Reading the Series at Hogworts: Goblet of Fire
by TheAngelsCryInBlood
Summary: Here is the reboot of my reading series set in The Order of The Phoenix and starting with the Goblet of Fire, Slash from the get go. Dumble, Molly, Ginny and Ron bashing along with Angels, Gods, Demons and everything else from the old series.
1. Prolouge

Harry Potter Reading Series Prologue

Harry leaned back in his seat and looked around the hall, he could feel eyes on him but it was different, these weren't either the ones form his friends waiting for him to break, the ones looking at him suspiciously or the glares. He couldn't describe it as his eyes locked onto a Slytherin, her hair was golden as were her eyes that burned bright as she looked up at him and smiled softly, nodding over to another Slytherin.

Harry's eyes followed her movement and he spotted Theodore Nott looking at him with a look of interest but it was caring, inviting and it made something warm settle in Harry's stomach.

The Slytherin blushed brightly, his blond hair falling into icy blue eyes that hid a fire behind them because they were so warm and they burned brighter when Harry smiled at him but that didn't stop him returning it, his pale, pink lips that was as welcoming as a butterbeer on a cold day.

"HARRY!" He turned to see Hermione looking at him with worried eyes, hers nearly teary for some reason as if she'd seen something horrifically sad. "Harry what's wrong, you wouldn't answer me?" The ravenette just shrugged he'd been to caught up in his staring competition with the blond to notice anything.

"I'm fine just thinking." He grinned, actually grinned, nothing fake, no mask and it made the girl light up in response as they left for the first class of the day.

As they walked into Charms class for the start of tuesday Harry spotted Theodore Nott in the back corner, looking bored and alone so leaving Hermione and Ron to their latest argument to see him slip away and stood before the blond who looked up.

"Hey do you mind if I sit here?" Harry forced himself not to shift in place as eyes blinked at him and flickered to Ron and Hermione.

"Sure thing." Harry slid into the seat and rolled his shoulders slightly to relax them and saw the girl from earlier looking at him with a grin, he was slightly bemused, she seemed to look, proud. He shook his head and listened to Professor Flitwick as they worked and noticed that Theo had started messing with his hands. On some weird instinct he reached over and took one of the blonds hands. They were smoother than his own, without the callouses of Quidditch training but not as delicate looking, he seemed to be more naturally built than Harry.

Theo was surprised when he felt a hand take his own, supressing the urge to jump and relaxing under the touch, it was nice for someone to offer contact for once in his life and he smiled slightly as he looked at the board, giving a gentle squeeze in thanks which he felt the Gryffindor return.

Through the whole lesson they didn't once let go, Theo was ambidextrous so just used his left and for some reason it just seemed to make things flow better.

When they dropped hands to go to the next class, transfiguration which they also shared, they felt an unpleasant rush at the loss of contact and heard a musical laugh in front of them from that girl again, what was her name, Harry knew she'd joined Hogwarts in third year but for the life of him, he couldn't remember her name.

In transfiguration Harry was buffered between his two friends who kept bombarding him with questions about why he didn't sit with them and why he chose to sit with a Slytherin and it resulted in with Ron and Hermione getting a detention as Professor McGonagall had seen the look of shear annoyance on his face.

She walked away giving him a small smile at his grateful look for getting them to shut up.

After that Care of Magical creatures and Herbology were pretty much the same, even Hagrid and Professor Sprout lost their rags with two of the golden trio.

"Hey Harry!" He sat in the hall after classes and was sandwiched by the twins who quickly got him talking about the latest pranking item they'd come up with and rather than actually talk that much he leaned to the right, snuggling into Fred's shoulder, the red head laughing and throwing an arm around his young friend who just seemed to melt.

Harry sighed as he thought of the up coming break, it was Tuesday and the last DA meeting of the term would be on Thursday. He suddenly groaned as Umbrige stood, an all to pleased look on her face and he turned further into Fred, pulling George's arm around him.

"I would like to announce that I have these books." She pointed to a pile of them on her desk. "About a certain student and we will be reading them once the Minister and Madam Bones arrive." She giggled sweetly, in that way that made you want to be sick.

As if on cue the hall doors open and in came the headmaster, the Minister and Madam Bones along with a gaggle of red heads, Percy was with Fudge while all the others, including Charlie were walking over to the Gryffindor table along with Remus and a big black dog that caused several shrieks among the superstitious populous and a blond that drew most of the attention.

"Hello Harry dear. Albus Informed us of Umbridge reading these books and came to get us, for moral support."

"Thanks Mrs Weasley, I think I'll need it and I'm guessing were staring in my fourth year, how you doing Fleur?"

He smiled and got a happy one in return. "I am very good 'Arry, Merci. Gabrielle so wanted to see you but of 'ourse she is in France."

"Who knows maybe I'll see her soon."

"I do 'ope."

At that point Dumbledore stood and asked them all to do the same, changing all the table and benches into sofas and arm chairs so they could sit down, Harry still snuggled between the twins.

"I shall begin." Umbridge said importantly and opened the first book.


	2. Weasley Wizarding Wheezes

"**Chapter six: Weasley's Wizard Wheezes"**

Umbriges eyebrows creased as she looked for the first few chapters that seemed to be missing but any thought of that was drowned out by cheers at the name.

**Harry spun faster and faster, elbows tucked tightly to his sides, blurred fireplaces flashing past him, until he started to feel sick and closed his eyes. **

"Flooing." Susan Bones shivered and several people nodded.

**Then,** **when at last he felt himself slowing down, he threw out his hands and came to a halt in time to prevent himself from falling face forward out of the Weasleys' kitchen fire.**

**"Did he eat it?" said Fred excitedly, holding out a hand to pull Harry to his feet. **

The Weasley boys and Ginny burst out laughing from where they were while Molly glared and Arthur held his head in his hands.

"**Yeah," said Harry, straightening up. "What was it?"**

"**Ton-Tongue Toffee," said Fred brightly. "George and I invented them, **

Someone whooped to general agreement.

**and we've been looking for someone to test them on all summer…"**

**The tiny kitchen exploded with laughter; Harry looked around and saw that Ron and George were sitting at the scrubbed wooden table with two red-haired people Harry had never seen before, though he knew immediately who they must be: Bill and Charlie, the two eldest Weasley brothers.**

"**How're you doing, Harry?" said the nearer of the two, grinning at him and holding out a large hand, which Harry shook, feeling calluses and blisters under his fingers. This had to be Charlie, who worked with dragons in Romania. **

"How..." Terry Boot trailed off and Harry just shook his head and gestured to the book, he had the feeling it would explain.

**Charlie was built like the twins, shorter and stockier than Percy and Ron, who were both long and lanky. He had a broad, good-natured face, which was weather-beaten and so freckly that he looked almost tanned; his arms were muscular, and one of them had a large, shiny burn on it.**

"Ah."

"Not a bad description." Charlie grinned.

"Let's see about me."

**Bill got to his feet, smiling, and also shook Harry's hand. Bill came as something of a surprise. Harry knew that he worked for the wizarding bank, Gringotts, and that Bill had been Head Boy at Hogwarts; Harry had always imagined Bill to be an older version of Percy: fussy about rule-breaking and fond of bossing everyone around.**

Harry blushed and hide his face in Fred's chest much to their amusement while most of the Weasley kids looked sick and Molly look sadly at her third eldest.

**However, Bill was - there was no other word for it - cool. **

Harry looked out cautiously and blushed when Bill winked at him.

**He was tall, with long hair that he had tied back in a ponytail. He was wearing an earring with what looked like a fang dangling from it. Bill's clothes would not have looked out of place at a rock concert, except that Harry recognized his boots to be made, not of leather, but of dragon hide.**

Someone gave a wolf whistle making those in the hall burst out laughing.

**Before any of them could say anything else, there was a faint popping noise, and Mr. Weasley appeared out of thin air at George's shoulder. He was looking angrier than Harry had ever seen him.**

"Though that's not hard." Harry mused and Padfoot barked, Harry smiled at him and ran a hand through the Grim's fur.

"**That wasn't funny Fred!" ****he shouted. "What on earth did you give that Muggle boy?"**

"**I didn't give him anything," said Fred, with another evil grin. "I just dropped it… It was his fault he went and ate it, I never told him to."**

"You should know that wouldn't work." Remus shook his head in mock disappointment though he was grinning broadly.

"**You dropped it on purpose!" roared Mr. Weasley. "You knew he'd eat it, you knew he was on a diet -"**

"**How big did his tongue get?" George asked eagerly.**

"**It was four feet long before his parents would let me shrink it!"**

**Harry and the Weasleys roared with laughter again.**

And they did again now though Molly glared at them furiously.

"**It isn't funny!" Mr. Weasley shouted. "That sort of behavior seriously undermines wizard-Muggle relations! I spend half my life campaigning against the mistreatment of Muggles, and my own sons."**

"Like they'd do it because he's a muggle, they'll be another reason." A girl from the Hufflepuff table spoke. She had a warm round face, her brown eyes sparkled and her hair was a deep brown that rolled over her shoulders. She was wearing a t-shirt with a tiger on the front and a the upper back missing, revealing a tribal tattoo of two black wings.

"**We didn't give it to him because he's a Muggle!" said Fred indignantly.**

**"No, we gave it to him because he's a great bullying git," said George. "Isn't he, Harry?"**

"**Yeah, he is, Mr. Weasley," said Harry earnestly.**

"He really is." Harry muttered, wrinkling his nose at his cousin.

"**That's not the point!" raged Mr. Weasley. "You wait until I tell your mother -"**

"**Tell me what?" said a voice behind them.**

People turned to her and their eyes widened at the look of anger on her face.

**Mrs. Weasley had just entered the kitchen. She was a short, plump woman with a very kind face, though her eyes were presently narrowed with suspicion.**

"**Oh hello, Harry, dear," she said, spotting him and smiling. Then her eyes snapped back to her husband. "Tell me what, Arthur?"**

"Really, she can do a one eighty that fast?" Hannah said in disbelief.

**Mr. Weasley hesitated. Harry could tell that, however angry he was with Fred and George, he hadn't really intended to tell Mrs. Weasley what had happened. There was a silence, while Mr. Weasley eyed his wife nervously. Then two girls appeared in the kitchen doorway behind Mrs. Weasley. One, with very bushy brown hair and rather large front teeth,**

Hermiones eyes widened as others laughed and Harry groaned, going back to hiding in Fred's chest.

**was Harry's and Ron's friend, Hermione Granger. The other, who was small and red-haired, was Ron's younger sister, Ginny.**

Ginny tipped her from side to side in a so, so gesture.

**Both of them smiled at Harry, who grinned back, which made Ginny go scarlet **

And of course a few people snorted at that.

**- she had been very taken with Harry ever since his first visit to the Burrow.**

"Way before that." George whispered to the ravenette who's laugh was muffled from where he was pressed against the other twin.

"**Tell me what, Arthur?" Mrs. Weasley repeated, in a dangerous sort of voice.**

**"It's nothing, Molly," mumbled Mr. Weasley, "Fred and George just - but I've had words with them -"**

"**What have they done this time?" said Mrs. Weasley. "If it's got anything to do with Weasleys' Wizard Wheezes -" **

Seeing the look of anger on Molly's face Harry spoke up.

"Why are you so against it? aren't you suppose to support their dreams? Because if anyone can do it, they can." Molly looked at him blankly but he kept his gaze steady until she looked away and George moved a little closer, tightening his arm slightly.

"**Why don't you show Harry where he's sleeping, Ron?" said Hermione from the doorway.**

"**He knows where he's sleeping," said Ron, "in my room, he slept there last -"**

"**We can all go," said Hermione pointedly.**

"**Oh," said Ron, cottoning on. "Right."**

"Took you long enough." Smith sneered and was reward with a slap from his boyfriend Anthony Goldstein who was honestly wondering why he started dating the jerk.

"**Yeah, we'll come too," said George.**

"**You stay where you are!" snarled Mrs. Weasley. **

"Pleasant." Blaise Zabini muttered under his breath.

**Harry and Ron edged out of the kitchen, and they, Hermione, and Ginny set off along the narrow hallway and up the rickety staircase that zigzagged through the house to the upper stories.**

"**What are Weasleys' Wizard Wheezes?" Harry asked as they climbed.**

**Ron and Ginny both laughed, although Hermione didn't.**

Why weren't people surprised? That girl needed to learn to relax.

"**Mum found this stack of order forms when she was cleaning Fred and George's room," said Ron quietly. "Great long price lists for stuff they've invented. Joke stuff, you know. Fake wands and trick sweets, loads of stuff. It was brilliant, I never knew they'd been inventing all that…"**

"**We've been hearing explosions out of their room for ages, but we never thought they were actually making things," said Ginny. "We thought they just liked the noise."**

"That to." The twins smirked and Harry dug them in the ribs lightly while Ron glared at them, why didn't the twins act like that with him, like he was their brother.

"**Only, most of the stuff - well, all of it, really - was a bit dangerous," said Ron, "and, you know, they were planning to sell it at Hogwarts to make some money, and Mum went mad at them. Told them they weren't allowed to make any more of it, and burned all the order forms… She's furious at them anyway. They didn't get as many O.W.L.s as she expected."**

"Yeah, that's a reason to be angry at your child. No, just no." Angelina shook her head.

**O.W.L.s were Ordinary Wizarding Levels, the examinations Hogwarts students took at the age of fifteen.**

**"And then there was this big row," Ginny said, "because Mum wants them to go into the Ministry of Magic like Dad, and they told her all they want to do is open a joke shop."**

"Mum, it's their choice what they do." Bill sighed seeing the look on his Mums face.

"You wanted the same for us but we ended up doing what we love and having great lives so far, so why are you so cut the twins some slack." Charlie agreed, not caring that the red head was rearing up.

"And I'd be surprised if you still wanted them to with how the Ministry has acted lately." The girl from Slytherin spoke up and Harry creased his brow, trying to remember that name and she spoke as if reading his mind. "Gabriel Novak." (A/N: Cookie if you got the ref)

**Just then a door on the second landing opened, and a face poked out wearing horn-rimmed glasses and a very annoyed expression.**

"**Hi, Percy," said Harry.**

"**Oh hello, Harry," said Percy. "I was wondering who was making all the noise. I'm trying to work in here, you know I've got a report to finish for the office – and it's rather difficult to concentrate when people keep thundering up and down the** stairs."

"Some brother you are." Padma Patil snorted though it fell on deaf ears.

"**We're not thundering, "said Ron irritably. "We're walking. Sorry if we've disturbed the top-secret workings of the Ministry of Magic."**

**"What are you working on?" said Harry.**

**"A report for the Department of International Magical Cooperation," said Percy smugly. "We're trying to standardize cauldron thickness. Some of these foreign imports are just a shade too thin - leakages have been increasing at a rate of almost three percent a year -"**

People grimaced at the thought of someone talking to them like that and Madam Bones really didn't look to pleased.

"**That'll change the world, that report will," said Ron. "Front page of the Daily Prophet, I expect, cauldron leaks."**

**Percy went slightly pink.**

"**You might sneer, Ron," he said heatedly, "but unless some sort of international law is imposed we might well find the market flooded with flimsy, shallow bottomed products that seriously endanger -" **

"He's right he just really shouldn't have been so pompous about it." Bill shook his head and looked at his brother who turned his head, feeling something uncomfortably like regret settle in his stomach.

"**Yeah, yeah, all right," said Ron, and he started off upstairs again. Percy slammed his bedroom door shut. As Harry, Hermione, and Ginny followed Ron up three more flights of stairs, shouts from the kitchen below echoed up to them. It sounded as though Mr. Weasley had told Mrs. Weasley about the toffees. **

"He didn't, mum figured it out and also had a go at dad for trying to keep it from her." George sighed.

**The room at the top of the house where Ron slept looked much as it had the last time that Harry had come to stay: the same posters of Ron's favorite Quidditch team, the Chudley Cannons, were whirling and waving on the walls and sloping ceiling, and the fish tank on the windowsill, which had previously held frog spawn, now contained one extremely large frog. Ron's old rat, Scabbers, was here no more, **

The tiro and a few others grimaced.

**but instead there was the tiny gray owl that had delivered Ron's letter to Harry in Privet Drive. It was hopping up and down in a small cage and twittering madly.**

"**Shut up, Pig," **

Everyone burst out laughing, who the hell would call an owl pig.

**said Ron, edging his way between two of the four beds that had been squeezed into the room. "Fred and George are in here with us, because Bill and Charlie are in their room," he told Harry. "Percy gets to keep his room all to himself because he's got to work." **

Only Ron had, had to worry because the twins never pranked Harry.

"**Er - why are you calling that owl Pig?" Harry asked Ron. **

"**Because he's being stupid," said Ginny, "Its proper name is Pigwidgeon." **

If the laughter before was bed it was three times worse now.

"**Yeah, and that's not a stupid name at all," said Ron sarcastically. "Ginny named him," he explained to Harry. **

The red heads face matched her infamous hair as sinkers bubbled.

**"She reckons it's sweet. And I tried to change it, but it was too late, he won't answer to anything else. So now he's Pig. I've got to keep him up here because he annoys Errol and Hermes. He annoys me too, come to that."**

**Pigwidgeon zoomed happily around his cage, hooting shrilly. Harry knew Ron too well to take him seriously. He had moaned continually about his old rat, Scabbers, but had been most upset when Hermione's cat, Crookshanks, appeared to have eaten him. **

"How I regret that now." Ron shuddered.

"**Where's Crookshanks?" Harry asked Hermione now.**

"**Out in the garden, I expect," she said. "He likes chasing gnomes. He's never seen any before."**

"**Percy's enjoying work, then?" said Harry, sitting down on one of the beds and watching the Chudley Cannons zooming in and out of the posters on the ceiling. **

"The Chudley Cannons though?" Someone cried in horror any Quidditch fan agreed.

"**Enjoying it?" said Ron darkly. "I don't reckon he'd come home if Dad didn't make him. He's obsessed. Just don't get him onto the subject of his boss. According to Mr. Crouch… as I was saying to Mr. Crouch… Mr. Crouch is of the opinion… Mr. Crouch was telling me… They'll be announcing their engagement any day now."**

The laughter was turning into coughs purely because people weren't getting enough air into their lungs.

"**Have you had a good summer, Harry?" said Hermione. "Did you get our food parcels and everything?"**

"**Yeah, thanks a lot," said Harry. "They saved my life, those cakes."**

"**And have you heard from -?" Ron began, but at a look from Hermione he fell silent.**

**Harry knew Ron had been about to ask about Sirius.**

Umbridge, Bones, Fudge and Percy all perked up though Madam Bones for a very different reason, why would he call his parents murderer by his first name?

**Ron and Hermione had been so deeply involved in helping Sirius escape from the Ministry of Magic that they were almost as concerned about Harry's godfather as he was.**

The toads eyes widened and her high pitched voice sped up.

**However, discussing him in front of Ginny was a bad idea. Nobody but themselves and Professor Dumbledore knew about how Sirius had escaped, or believed in his innocence. **

"Innocence!" Umbridge and Bones said it in time but with very different tones. Umbridge was in outrage and ready to rant and rave while Bones was interested.

"Mr Potter, I would like to speak with you after this chapter." Harry nodded at the head of The DMLE after an encouraging look from Susan.

"**I think they've stopped arguing," said Hermione, to cover the awkward moment, because Ginny was looking curiously from Ron to Harry. "Shall we go down and help your mum with dinner?"**

"**Yeah, all right," said Ron. The four of them left Ron's room and went back downstairs to find Mrs. Weasley alone in the kitchen, looking extremely bad-tempered.**

"She does that a lot when Harry's not there." The twins said in time and Molly opened her mouth to protest but Arthur told her not to bother.

"**We're eating out in the garden," she said when they came in. "There's just not room for eleven people in here. Could you take the plates outside, girls? Bill and Charlie are setting up the tables. Knives and forks, please, you two," she said to Ron and Harry, pointing her wand a little more vigorously than she had intended at a pile of potatoes in the sink, which shot out of their skins so fast that they ricocheted off the walls and ceiling. **

"You should know better than that Molly." Professor Flitwick scolded and the Weasley Matriarch blushed.

"**Oh for heaven's sake," she snapped, now directing her wand at a dustpan, which hopped off the sideboard and started skating across the floor, scooping up the potatoes. "Those two!" she burst out savagely, now pulling pots and pans out of a cupboard, and Harry knew she meant Fred and George. "I don't know what's going to happen to them, I really don't. No ambition, unless you count making as much trouble as they possibly can…" **

"You really don't know us do you?"

"Don't be ridiculous Fred, of course I do."

"Mrs Weasley." She turned slightly to Harry. "That's George, not Fred and if you know them, they easy to tell apart." She felt her jaw slacken at his quiet words and looked to Arthur and her two eldest who nodded.

**Mrs. Weasley slammed a large copper saucepan down on the kitchen table and began to wave her wand around inside it. A creamy sauce poured from the wand tip as she stirred.**

"**It's not as though they haven't got brains," she continued irritably, taking the saucepan over to the stove and lighting it with a further poke of her wand, "but they're wasting them, and unless they pull themselves together soon, they'll be in real trouble. I've had more owls from Hogwarts about them than the rest put together. If they carry on the way they're going, they'll end up in front of the Improper Use of Magic Office." **

Some people wanted to comment but didn't dare as Molly was sat in a state shock.

**Mrs. Weasley jabbed her wand at the cutlery drawer, which shot open. Harry and Ron both jumped out of the way as several knives soared out of it, flew across the kitchen, and began chopping the potatoes, which had just been tipped back into the sink by the dustpan.**

"**I don't know where we went wrong with them," said Mrs. Weasley, **

For once in his life Arthur Weasley lost it, hearing that comment from his wife even if it is in the past.

"No where." Everyone was shocked to hear the anger seeping through his words and Molly jumped. "They may be trouble makers but they are good people and I'm proud to call them my sons and if we went wrong anywhere it was me when you were trying to stop them following their dreams." Arthur snapped and took a deep breath, looking away from his wife who felt a few small tears in her eyes but watched as the twins moved, each hugging their dad before placing them selves beside Harry.

**putting down her wand and starting to pull out still more saucepans. "It's been the same for years, one thing after another, and they won't listen to - OH NOT AGAIN!"**

**She had picked up her wand from the table, and it had emitted a loud squeak and turned into a giant rubber mouse. "One of their fake wands again!" she shouted. "How many times have I told them not to leave them lying around?"**

**She grabbed her real wand and turned around to find that the sauce on the stove was smoking. **

"And that is why you need to control your emotions." Snape sneered as both advise and a jab at the red-head.

"**C'mon," Ron said hurriedly to Harry, seizing a handful of cutlery from the open drawer, "let's go and help Bill and Charlie."**

**They left Mrs. Weasley and headed out the back door into the yard.**

**They had only gone a few paces when Hermione's bandy-legged ginger cat, Crookshanks, came pelting out of the garden, bottle-brush tail held high in the air, chasing what looked like a muddy potato on legs. Harry recognized it instantly as a gnome. **

Some of the muggle borns pursed their lips in mild interest.

**Barely ten inches high, its horny little feet pattered very fast as it sprinted across the yard and dived headlong into one of the Wellington boots that lay scattered around the door. Harry could hear the gnome giggling madly as Crookshanks inserted a paw into the boot, trying to reach it. Meanwhile, a very loud crashing noise was coming from the other side of the house. The source of the commotion was revealed as they entered the garden, and saw that Bill and Charlie both had their wands out, and were making two battered old tables fly high above the lawn, smashing into each other, **

And the hall burst out in cheers for the eldest Weasley brothers.

**each attempting to knock the other's out of the air. Fred and George were cheering, Ginny was laughing, and Hermione was hovering near the hedge, apparently torn between amusement and anxiety. Bill's table caught Charlie's with a huge bang and knocked one of its legs off. There was a clatter from overhead, and they all looked up to see Percy's head poking out of a window on the second floor.**

"**Will you keep it down?" he bellowed. **

"You could have used charms to stop the noise getting in." Luna spoke in her normal voice, so as dreamy as ever, but it still made Percy go scarlet because the strange girl was right.

"**Sorry, Perce," said Bill, grinning. "How're the cauldron bottoms coming on?"**

"**Very badly," said Percy peevishly, and he slammed the window shut. Chuckling, Bill and Charlie directed the tables safely onto the grass, end to end, and then, with a flick of his wand, Bill reattached the table leg and conjured tablecloths from nowhere. **

**By seven o'clock, the two tables were groaning under dishes and dishes of Mrs. Weasley's excellent cooking, and the nine Weasleys, Harry, and Hermione were settling themselves down to eat beneath a clear, deep-blue sky. To somebody who had been living on meals of increasinglystale cake all summer, this was paradise, **

"It is for most anyway." The Weasley kids minus Percy (of course) chorused.

**and at first, Harry listened rather than talked as he helped himself to chicken and ham pie, boiled potatoes, and salad.**

Poppy nodded her approval at what appeared to be a well blanched meal much to Pomona Sprout's and Aurora Sinistra's amusement.

**At the far end of the table, Percy was telling his father all about his report on cauldron bottoms.**

**"I've told Mr. Crouch that I'll have it ready by Tuesday," Percy was saying pompously. "That's a bit sooner than he expected it, but I like to keep on top of things. I think he'll be grateful I've done it in good time, I mean, its extremely busy in our department just now, what with all the arrangements for the World Cup. We're just not getting the support we need from the Department of Magical Games and Sports. Ludo Bagman -" **

People cheered, the twins scowled which made Padfoot look at them oddly so they mouthed 'later'.

"**I like Ludo," said Mr. Weasley mildly. "He was the one who got us such good tickets for the Cup. I did him a bit of a favor: His brother, Otto, got into a spot of trouble - a lawnmower with unnatural powers - I smoothed the whole thing over."**

"**Oh Bagman's likable enough, of course," said Percy dismissively, "but how he ever got to be Head of Department… when I compare him to Mr. Crouch! I can't see Mr. Crouch losing a member of our department and not trying to find out what's happened to them. You realize Bertha Jorkins has been missing for over a month now? Went on holiday to Albania and never came back?" **

Harry gulped, curled up in a ball and leaned into George this time, remembering the messy haired women from the graveyard.

"**Yes, I was asking Ludo about that," said Mr. Weasley, frowning. "He says Bertha's gotten lost plenty of times before now - though must say, if it was someone in my department, I'd be worried…" **

"So would I Arthur, so would I." Amelia Bones agreed and Arthur gave here a weary smile.

"**Oh Bertha's hopeless, all right," said Percy. "I hear she's been shunted from department to department for years, much more trouble than she's worth… but all the same, Bagman ought to be trying to find her. Mr. Crouch has been taking a personal interest, she worked in our department at one time, you know, and I think Mr. Crouch was quite fond of her**

Harry snorted.

** - but Bagman just keeps laughing and saying she probably misread the map and ended up in Australia instead of Albania. However" - Percy heaved an impressive sigh and took a deep swig of elderflower wine - "we've got quite enough on our plates at the Department of International Magical Cooperation without trying to find members of other departments too. As you know, we've got another big event to organize right after the World Cup." **

The younger ones of the Weasley's, Harry and Hermione groaned.

**Percy cleared his throat significantly and looked down toward the end of the table where Harry, Ron, and Hermione were sitting. "You know the one I'm talking about, Father." He raised his voice slightly. "The top-secret one." **

"Arse." All the a formed mentioned snapped, not including Hermione.

**Ron rolled his eyes and muttered to Harry and Hermione, "He's been trying to get us to ask what that event is ever since he started work. Probably an exhibition of thick-bottomed cauldrons."**

**In the middle of the table, Mrs. Weasley was arguing with Bill about his earring, which seemed to be a recent acquisition.**

"… **with a horrible great fang on it. Really, Bill, what do they say at the bank?"**

"With Goblins 'ey don't care as long as 'e does 'es job and most of the human employees 'ink 'ets interesting." Fleur informed and Bill gave her a sappy grin but some noticed it was free from the lust allure caused.

"**Mum, no one at the bank gives a damn how I dress as long as I bring home plenty of treasure," said Bill patiently.**

"**And your hair's getting silly, dear," said Mrs. Weasley, fingering her wand lovingly." I wish you'd let me give it a trim…" **

"Nah." Several people commented.

"**I like it," said Ginny, who was sitting beside Bill. "You're so old-fashioned, Mum. Anyway, it's nowhere near as long as Professor Dumbledore's…"**

**Next to Mrs. Weasley, Fred, George, and Charlie were all talking spiritedly about the World Cup.**

"**It's got to be Ireland," said Charlie thickly, through a mouthful of potato. "They flattened Peru in the semifinals."**

"**Bulgaria has got Viktor Krum, though," said Fred. **

"**Krum's one decent player, Ireland has got seven," said Charlie shortly. **

"Aye!" The Irish and several of the English/Scottish people shouted in agreement, grinning brightly.

**"I wish England had got through. That was embarrassing, that was."**

"**What happened?" said Harry eagerly, regretting more than ever his isolation from the wizarding world when he was stuck on Privet Drive. **

Not as much as he had this summer.

"**Went down to Transylvania, three hundred and ninety to ten," said Charlie gloomily.**

Gabriel fist pumped, getting a few laughs as people remembered where she'd transferred from.

"Really? Transylvania" The girl from the Hufflepuff table asked,the one with the tattooed wings.

"Yes?" Her accent was no longer English it was a soft European one, half way between English and Romanian. "I live either in Transylvania, near the Carpathian Mountains or in Muntenia, pacifically Bucharest. What's your name?"

"Ashlyn David." (A/N: Like Ziva) She smiled brightly drawing soppy, love sick grins from the boys around her.

"**Shocking performance. And Wales lost to Uganda, and Scotland was slaughtered by Luxembourg."**

**Harry had been on the Gryffindor House Quidditch team ever since his first year at Hogwarts and owned one of the best racing brooms in the world, a Firebolt. Flying came more naturally to Harry than anything else in the magical world, and he played in the position of Seeker on the Gryffindor House team. **

"Use to." He muttered sadly, curling closer to George who squeezed his shoulder.

**Mr. Weasley conjured up candles to light the darkening garden before they had their homemade strawberry ice cream, and by the time they had finished, moths were fluttering low over the table, and the warm air was perfumed with the smells of grass and honeysuckle. Harry was feeling extremely well fed and at peace with the world as he watched several gnomes sprinting through the rosebushes, laughing madly and closely pursued by Crookshanks. **

"I wouldn't be laughing if I were it, I'd be terrified, Crookshanks can be vicious." Dean shivered.

**Ron looked carefully up the table to check that the rest of the family were all busy talking, then he said very quietly to Harry, "So - have you heard from Sirius lately?"**

**Hermione looked around, listening closely.**

"**Yeah," said Harry softly, "twice. He sounds okay. I wrote to him yesterday. He might write back while I'm here." **

**He suddenly remembered the reason he had written to Sirius, and for a moment was on the verge of telling Ron and Hermione about his scar hurting again, and about the dream that had awoken him… but he really didn't want to worry them just now, not when he himself was feeling so happy and peaceful.**

People tipped their heads in confusion and tried to piece together what that meant.

"**Look at the time," Mrs. Weasley said suddenly, checking her wristwatch. "You really should be in bed, the whole lot of you you'll be up at the crack of dawn to get to the Cup. Harry, if you leave your school list out, I'll get your things for you tomorrow in Diagon Alley. I'm getting everyone else's. There might not be time after the World Cup, the match went on for five days last time."**

"Um, why not wait and see if they get back?" Michael Corner said reasonably and Molly flushed again.

"**Wow - hope it does this time!" said Harry enthusiastically.**

"**Well, I certainly don't," said Percy sanctimoniously. "I shudder to think what the state of my in-tray would be if I was away from work for five days."**

"**Yeah, someone might slip dragon dung in it again, eh, Perce?" said Fred. **

Predictably the students snorted.

"**That was a sample of fertilizer from Norway!" said Percy, going very red in the face. "It was nothing personal!"**

"**It was," Fred whispered to Harry as they got up from the table. "We sent it."**

And burst into laughter after that while Umbridge proclaimed the end of the chapter.


	3. The Portkey

**2CHAPTER SIX - THE PORTKEY **McGonagall spoke clearly as if giving a lecture to her class and everyone naturally sat up straighter.

**Harry felt as though he had barely lain down to steep in Ron's room when he was being shaken awake by Mrs. Weasley.**

**"Time to go, Harry, dear," she whispered, moving away to wake Ron. **

"Good luck with that." The Weasley kids chorused and Ron turned a brilliant Maroon.

**Harry felt around for his glasses, put them on, and sat up. It was still dark outside. **

Well, you'd wince to.

**Ron muttered indistinctly as his mother roused him. At the foot of Harry's mattress he saw two large, disheveled shapes emerging from tangles of blankets.**

**"'S' time already?" said Fred groggily. **

Harry snickered, he always loved watching other people try to wake up.

**They dressed in silence, too sleepy to talk, then, yawning and stretching, the four of them headed downstairs into the kitchen.**

**Mrs. Weasley was stirring the contents of a large pot on the stove, while Mr. Weasley was sitting at the table, checking a sheaf of large parchment tickets. He looked up as the boys entered and spread his arms so that they could see his clothes more clearly. He was wearing what appeared to be a golfing sweater and a very old pair of jeans, slightly too big for him and held up with a thick leather belt.**

Muggleborns, raised and some half-bloods nodded their approval at the choice of clothing and Arthur smiled to himself.

**"What d'you think?" he asked anxiously. "We're supposed to go incognito - do I look like a Muggle, Harry?"**

**"Yeah," said Harry, smiling, "very good."**

"Aye!"

**"Where're Bill and Charlie and Per-Per-Percy?" said George, failing to stifle a huge yawn.**

**"Well, they're Apparating, aren't they?"**

"So why can't the other's side long?" Someone asked and Molly frowned, she hadn't thought of that.

"To much chance of splinching." Arthur smiled.

"Ah."

**said Mrs. Weasley, heaving the large pot over to the table and starting to ladle porridge into bowls. "So they can have a bit of a lie-in."**

**Harry knew that Apparating meant disappearing from one place and reappearing almost instantly in another, but had never known any Hogwarts student to do it, and understood that it was very difficult. **

"So everyone says but it's because of them saying that, that people assume they can't do it, like wandless casting." Gabriel mussed form where she was sat.

**"So they're still in bed?" said Fred grumpily, pulling his bowl of porridge toward him. "Why can't we Apparate too?"**

**"Because you're not of age and you haven't passed your test," snapped Mrs. Weasley."**

"Was there really any need to snap." Minerva said pulling her self up a little straighter. While she was strict she rarely snapped at her students and most of the Griffins agreed with the head of their pride.

**"And where have those girls got to?"**

**She bustled out of the kitchen and they heard her climbing the stairs. "You have to pass a test to Apparate?" Harry asked.**

**"Oh yes," said Mr. Weasley, tucking the tickets safely into the back pocket of his jeans. "The Department of Magical Transportation had to fine a couple of people the other day for Apparating without a license. It's not easy, Apparition, and when it's not done property it can lead to nasty complications. This pair I'm talking about went and splinched themselves." **

Almost everyone of the older or more informed students flinched at that.

**Everyone around the table except Harry winced. "Er - splinched?" said Harry.**

**"They left half of themselves behind,"**

Now the younger ones did and looked a little sick.

**said Mr. Weasley, now spooning large amounts of treacle onto his porridge. "So, of course, they were stuck. Couldn't move either way. Had to wait for the Accidental Magic Reversal Squad to sort them out. Meant a fair old bit of paperwork, I can tell you, what with the Muggles who spotted the body parts they'd left behind..."**

About twenty people retched at that.

**Harry had a sudden vision of a pair of legs and an eyeball lying abandoned on the pavement of Privet Drive.**

Make that fifty and a few dark laughs.

**"Were they okay?" he asked, startled.**

**"Oh yes," said Mr. Weasley matter-of-factly. "But they got a heavy fine, and I don't think they'll be trying it again in a hurry. You don't mess around with Apparition. There are plenty of adult wizards who don't bother with it. Prefer brooms - slower, but safer." **

And that got a few whoops from the Qudditch nerds.

**"But Bill and Charlie and Percy can all do it?"**

**"Charlie had to take the test twice," said Fred, grinning. "He failed the first time. Apparated five miles south of where he meant to, right on top of some poor old dear doing her shopping, remember?" **

Before Fred could remark in the present Charlie grabbed him and gave him a noogie before proceeding with tickle torture.

**"Yes, well, he passed the second time," said Mrs. Weasley, marching back into the kitchen amid hearty sniggers.**

**"Percy only passed two weeks ago," said George. "He's been Apparating downstairs every morning since, just to prove he can." **

The youngest Weasley's glared at him but he barely acknowledged them.

**There were footsteps down the passageway and Hermione and Ginny came into the kitchen, both looking pale and drowsy.**

**"Why do we have to be up so early?" Ginny said, rubbing her eyes and sitting down at the table.**

**"We've got a bit of a walk," said Mr. Weasley.**

**"Walk?" said Harry. "What, are we walking to the World Cup?" **

People snorted at him in contempt and most ended up with a slap to the back of the head from whoever was near by.

**"No, no, that's miles away," said Mr. Weasley, smiling. "We only need to walk a short way. It's just that it's very difficult for a large number of wizards to congregate without attracting Muggle attention. We have to be very careful about how we travel at the best of times, and on a huge occasion like the Quidditch World Cup..."**

**"George!" said Mrs. Weasley sharply, and they all jumped. **

As did a few in the hall and the twins frowned deeply.

**"What?" said George, in an innocent tone that deceived nobody. **

**"What is that in your pocket?"**

**"Nothing!"**

**"Don't you lie to me!"**

**Mrs. Weasley pointed her wand at George's pocket and said, "Accio!" **

"Okay, that just wasn't fair." Bill said, he was a little ashamed he hadn't stopped her at the time.

**Several small, brightly colored objects zoomed out of George's pocket; he made a grab for them but missed, and they sped right into Mrs. Weasley's outstretched hand.**

**"We told you to destroy them!" said Mrs. Weasley furiously, holding up what were unmistakably more Ton-Tongue Toffees. "We told you to get rid of the lot! Empty your pockets, go on, both of you!"**

**It was an unpleasant scene; the twins had evidently been trying to smuggle as many toffees out of the house as possible, and it was only by using her Summoning Charm that Mrs. Weasley managed to find them all. **

"I wish she hadn't." George growled to himself.

**"Accio! Accio! Accio!" she shouted, and toffees zoomed from all sorts of unlikely places, including the lining of George's jacket and the turn-ups of Fred's jeans.**

**"We spent six months developing those!" Fred shouted at his mother as she threw the toffees away.**

**"Oh a fine way to spend six months!" she shrieked. "No wonder you didn't get more O.W.L.s!" **

"No they didn't get more OWL's because they couldn't be bothered to write in the exams, they could have easily passed if they wanted to." Filius was a little miffed, the twins may not do the best academically but anyone with half a brain can see they're easily capable of it.

**All in all, the atmosphere was not very friendly as they took their departure. Mrs. Weasley was still glowering as she kissed Mr. Weasley on the cheek, though not nearly as much as the twins, who had each hoisted their rucksacks onto their backs and walked out without a word to her. **

And they didn't feel an ounce of remorse.

**"Well, have a lovely time," said Mrs. Weasley, "and behave yourselves," she called after the twins' retreating backs, but they did not look back or answer. "I'll send Bill, Charlie, and Percy along around midday," Mrs. Weasley said to Mr. Weasley, as he, Harry, Ron, Hermione, and Ginny set off across the dark yard after Fred and George.**

**It was chilly and the moon was still out. Only a dull, greenish tinge along the horizon to their right showed that daybreak was drawing closer. Harry, having been thinking about thousands of wizards speeding toward the Quidditch World Cup, sped up to walk with Mr. Weasley. **

"What? I had questions and Mr. Weasley someone who I trust give me the answers I want." Harry said indignantly at the looks he was receiving.

**"So how does everyone get there without all the Muggles noticing?" he asked.**

**"It's been a massive organizational problem," sighed Mr. Weasley. "The trouble is, about a hundred thousand wizards turn up at the World Cup, and of course, we just haven't got a magical site big enough to accommodate them all. There are places Muggles can't penetrate, but imagine trying to pack a hundred thousand wizards into Diagon Alley or platform nine and three-quarters. **

Shudders ran through the Hogwarts populace and Umbridge and Fudge were starting to get annoyed with the lack of dirt on Potter.

**So we had to find a nice deserted moor, and set up as many anti-Muggle precautions as possible. The whole Ministry's been working on it for months. First, of course, we have to stagger the arrivals. People with cheaper tickets have to arrive two weeks beforehand. A limited number use Muggle transport, but we can't have too many clogging up their buses and trains - remember, wizards are coming from all over the world. Some Apparate, of course, but we have to set up safe points for them to appear, well away from Muggles. I believe there's a handy wood they're using as the Apparition point. For those who don't want to Apparate, or can't, we use Portkeys. They're objects that are used to transport wizards from one spot to another at a prearranged time. You can do large groups at a time if you need to. There have been two hundred Portkeys placed at strategic points around Britain, and the nearest one to us is up at the top of Stoatshead Hill, so that's where we're headed." **

Eyes bulged out of people's heads at the thought of how much organisation that took, it made the Olympics look simple by comparison.

**Mr. Weasley pointed ahead of them, where a large black mass rose beyond the village of Ottery St. Catchpole.**

**"What sort of objects are Portkeys?" said Harry curiously.**

**"Well, they can be anything," said Mr. Weasley. "Unobtrusive things, obviously, so Muggles don't go picking them up and playing with them ... stuff they'll just think is litter..." **

People tipped their heads, some juggles did collect litter.

**They trudged down the dark, dank lane toward the village, the silence broken only by their footsteps. The sky lightened very slowly as they made their way through the village, its inky blackness diluting to deepest blue. Harry's hands and feet were freezing. Mr. Weasley kept checking his watch.**

**They didn't have breath to spare for talking as they began to climb Stoatshead Hill, stumbling occasionally in hidden rabbit holes, slipping on thick black tuffets of grass. Each breath Harry took was sharp in his chest and his legs were starting to seize up when, at last, his feet found level ground. **

"And we had training from Wood."

"For the others it."

"Must have been hell."

Harry nodded his agreement with the twins and snuggled into the sofa, rubbing his calfs at the phantom pains that appeared.

**"Whew," panted Mr. Weasley, taking off his glasses and wiping them on his sweater. "Well, we've made good time - we've got ten minutes."**

**Hermione came over the crest of the hill last, clutching a stitch in her side. **

And the girl gripped her side yet again.

**"Now we just need the Portkey," said Mr. Weasley, replacing his glasses and squinting around at the ground. "It won't be big... Come on..."**

**They spread out, searching. They had only been at it for a couple of minutes, however, when a shout went through the still air.**

**"Over here, Arthur! Over here, son, we've got it."**

**Two tall figures were silhouetted against the starry sky on the other side of the hilltop. **

"That's sound really nice." Luna's dreamy voice cut through the air.

**"Amos!" said Mr. Weasley, smiling as he strode over to the man who had shouted. The rest of them followed.**

**Mr. Weasley was shaking hands with a ruddy-faced wizard with a scrubby brown beard, who was holding a moldy-looking old boot in his other hand.**

**"This is Amos Diggory, everyone," said Mr. Weasley. "He works for the Department for the Regulation and Control of Magical Creatures. And I think you know his son, Cedric?" **

The entire hall tensed, Cho started bawling and Harry curled up, hugging his legs, resting his cheek on his knee, he didn't notice Fleur gesture the twins to move and her sit next to him, but he didn't notice and accept the comforting hug she offered.

**Cedric Diggory was an extremely handsome boy of around seventeen. He was Captain and Seeker of the Hufflepuff House Quidditch team at Hogwarts.**

**"Hi," said Cedric, looking around at them all.**

**Everybody said hi back except Fred and George, who merely nodded. They had never quite forgiven Cedric for beating their team, Gryffindor, in the first Quidditch match of the previous year. **

They bit their lips in time and let their fingers weave together for support, they couldn't go back on it now though they wished they could.

**"Long walk, Arthur?" Cedric's father asked. "Not too bad," said Mr. Weasley. "We live just on the other side of the village there. You?"**

**"Had to get up at two, didn't we, Ced? I tell you, I'll be glad when he's got his Apparition test. Still ... not complaining ... Quidditch World Cup, wouldn't miss it for a sackful of Galleons - and the tickets cost about that. Mind you, looks like I got off easy. . . ." Amos Diggory peered good-naturedly around at the three Weasley boys, Harry, Hermione, and Ginny. "All these yours, Arthur?" **

Really, really. People couldn't believe that he thought that.

**"Oh no, only the redheads," said Mr. Weasley, pointing out his children. "This is Hermione, friend of Ron's - and Harry, another friend -"**

**"Merlin's beard," said Amos Diggory, his eyes widening. "Harry? Harry Potter?"**

**"Er - yeah," said Harry.**

**Harry was used to people looking curiously at him when they met him, used to the way their eyes moved at once to the lightning scar on his forehead, but it always made him feel uncomfortable. **

"So don't do it now." Ashton form the Hufflepuff table and Gabriel from Slytherin spoke up in time and smiled at one another.

**"Ced's talked about you, of course," said Amos Diggory. "Told us all about playing against you last year... I said to him, I said - Ced, that'll be something to tell your grandchildren, that will... You beat Harry Potter!"**

**Harry couldn't think of any reply to this, so he remained silent. Fred and George were both scowling again. Cedric looked slightly embarrassed. **

"Always modest." Professor Sprout said in a sad, fond voice and a few people nodded their agreement, Harry curling in on himself further.

**"Harry fell off his broom, Dad," he muttered. "I told you ... it was an accident..."**

**"Yes, but you didn't fall off, did you?" roared Amos genially, slapping his son on his back. "Always modest, our Ced, always the gentleman ... but the best man won, I'm sure Harry'd say the same, wouldn't you, eh? One falls off his broom, one stays on, you don't need to be a genius to tell which one's the better flier!" **

"Yes because Dementors had nothing to do with it." Someone said under their breath but their tone was still somber.

**"Must be nearly time," said Mr. Weasley quickly, pulling out his watch again. "Do you know whether we're waiting for any more, Amos?"**

**"No, the Lovegoods have been there for a week already and the Fawcetts couldn't get tickets," said Mr. Diggory. "There aren't any more of us in this area, are there?"**

**"Not that I know of," said Mr. Weasley. "Yes, it's a minute off ... We'd better get ready..."**

**He looked around at Harry and Hermione.**

**"You just need to touch the Portkey, that's all, a finger will do -" **

The muggle born and raised sat up straighter and leaned towards the book.

**With difficulty, owing to their bulky backpacks, the nine of them crowded around the old boot held out by Amos Diggory.**

**They all stood there, in a tight circle, as a chill breeze swept over the hilltop. Nobody spoke. It suddenly occurred to Harry how odd this would look if a Muggle were to walk up here now ... nine people, two of them grown men, clutching this manky old boot in the semidarkness, waiting... **

Plenty of people laughed, glad for a moments relief from the tight, dark atmosphere.

**"Three. . ." muttered Mr. Weasley, one eye still on his watch, two. . . one. . ."**

**It happened immediately: Harry felt as though a hook just behind his navel had been suddenly jerked irresistibly forward. His feet left the ground; he could feel Ron and Hermione on either side of him, their shoulders banging into his; they were all speeding forward in a howl of wind and swirling color; his forefinger was stuck to the boot as though it was pulling him magnetically onward and then -**

**His feet slammed into the ground; Ron staggered into him and he fell over; the Portkey hit the ground near his head with a heavy thud. **

People groaned and Harry shook violently, he was never going to like portkeys, even if he did get use to them.

**Harry looked up. Mr. Weasley, Mr. Diggory, and Cedric were still standing, though looking very windswept; everybody else was on the ground.**

**"Seven past five from Stoatshead Hill," said a voice. **

"And that is the chapter." Minerva announced.

"Very well." Dumbeldore stood. "Thank you all but I think that is enough for to day and we will read more tomorrow after dinner.

And all of the students rose, the Weasley parents hugging their children before leaving and Remus squeezing Harry's shoulder, Padfoot was staying at Hogwarts.


	4. Speaking with Bones

Harry stood and walked over to one of the halls many anti-chambers, he noted absently it was the same one he'd been sent to after the Goblet spat out his name.

He turned to face Madam Bones and flinched on instinct when she drew her wand which caused her to arch an eyebrow.

"Sorry, force of habit, you'll probably understand once we've read." She nodded her head a little apprehensively and transfigured two soft but not to relaxed chairs and gestured for them to sit.

"Mr Potter, I am not Fudge, I will listen to what you have to say and consider it rather than writing it off, I don't believe just because your young that you are naive." The stern witch said by way to get the young man to open his mouth and speak and he appreciated it greatly.

"During my third year I overheard about what 'happened' with Sirius, how he betrayed my parents. Anyway, when Buckbeak, Hagrid's hippogriff was going to be executed."

"You snuck out to see him." Amelia smirked to which the Gryffindor nodded.

"Ron was attacked by a dog, a grim that had been following me since that summer. He got dragged away and we ended up in the shrieking shack. There Sirius transformed back to human, he's an unregistered animagus." The women looked shocked but did not interrupt. "At first it just seemed like what everyone said was true and then Remus appeared and was helping Sirius as of that moment, he hadn't before. That's when I found out Remus was a werewolf, Hermione told us."

"It turns out that my dad, Sirius and Peter." He spat the name with heat. "Had become animagi to help him during the transformation. My dad was a stag, Sirius a dog and Peter a rat. When Voldemort." Harry grinned when he noticed the lack of a flinch and Bones gave him a slight smile. "Came after my parents they changed secret keepers without telling anyone because they knew Sirius was the obvious choice and then after that Sirius chased Peter and the little snivelling... sorry."

Harry paused and collected himself. "Pettigrew put on his little show and blew up the street, transformed and scurried off. He went to a wizarding family, the Weasleys and stayed there and Sirius saw him in the newspaper, one Fudge gave to him when he was inspecting everything at Azkaban. Sirius stayed sane because he knew he was innocent and escaped to keep me safe." Harry couldn't stop his smile at that.

"Mr Potter, if all this were true it would have come out at his trial." Madam Bones said slowly, not condescending, more like she was trying to wrap her own head around it.

"He was never given one, Crouch just threw him into prison and no one questioned it, either not caring or to wrapped up in grief, or completely sure that Sirius was the one who had done it." Harry explained and let out a puff of air when she nodded and straightened up further.

"Well it looks like I'll have to correct that soon doesn't it, this weekend perhaps." Internally she was beaming as the boys face lit up with some inner light of happiness that had strangely been absent from his eyes the entire time they'd been reading, what was going on with the teen to make him so depressed?

She had a funny feeling she wouldn't like what she heard in this books as she stood, guiding the young man back to the hall.

Sitting she was as pristine as ever but felt both a little lighter and like a large weight had been dropped in her stomach from unpleasant anticipation.

"My apologise for taking so long I had to discuss something with Mr Potter, so may we continue reading."

Umbridge huffed in annoyance and went to pick up the book again. She was well aware that if the little Potter brat got Bones on his side she'd have more trouble getting rid of the filthy half-blood.

"Professor, I think I shall read, wouldn't want you to lose your voice now would we." McGonagall said and was given a simpering laugh in return.

"Of course Professor how considerate." And every one agreed, it was to their ears from having to listen to that.


	5. Bagman and Crouch

Filius picked up the book and began reading.

**CHAPTER SEVEN - BAGMAN AND CROUCH **Causing many people to perk up, not that any of ten could say they were disinterested.

**Harry disentangled himself from Ron and got to his feet. They had arrived on what appeared to be a deserted stretch of misty moor. In front of them was a pair of tired and grumpy-looking wizards, one of whom was holding a large gold watch, the other a thick roll of parchment and a quill. Both were dressed as Muggles, though very inexpertly: The man with the watch wore a tweed suit with thigh- length galoshes; **

All those with a good knowledge of muggle clothing went into a fit of laughter.

**his colleague, a kilt and a poncho.**

And were now struggling to breath.

**"Morning, Basil," said Mr. Weasley, picking up the boot and handing it to the kilted wizard, who threw it into a large box of used Portkeys beside him; Harry could see an old newspaper, an empty drinks can, and a punctured football. **

Moody was slowly nodding to himself and starting to hope the boy became an Auror.

**"Hello there, Arthur," said Basil wearily. "Not on duty, eh? It's all right for some... We've been here all night... You'd better get out of the way, we've got a big party coming in from the Black Forest at five fifteen. **

Gabriel got a dreamy look and Harry gave her a 'seriously?' one.

"What werewolf doesn't love the black forest, it's our spiritual home, or have you never heard of the big bad wolf." People's eyes build and they shrunk away from hurt while others like Harry were surprised but non-plus, then there was Ashton the tattooed hufflepuff's, I'm sure that's along the lines of irony, reaction.

"Cool."

"Very hun, very." And her amber eyes burned warmer.

**Hang on, I'll find your campsite... Weasley ... Weasley..." He consulted his parchment list. "About a quarter of a mile's walk over there, first field you come to. Site manager's called Mr. Roberts. Diggory ... second field ... ask for Mr. Payne."**

**"Thanks, Basil," said Mr. Weasley, and he beckoned everyone to follow him.**

**They set off across the deserted moor, unable to make out much through the mist. After about twenty minutes, a small stone cottage next to a gate swam into view. Beyond it, Harry could just make out the ghostly shapes of hundreds and hundreds of tents, rising up the gentle slope of a large field toward a dark wood on the horizon. **

"That sounds pleasant." Lavander shuddered.

"Aren't you acquainted with british weather yet?" Blaise drawled and a few people laughed.

**They said good-bye to the Diggorys and approached the cottage door.**

**A man was standing in the doorway, looking out at the tents. Harry knew at a glance that this was the only real Muggle for several acres. **

"Not hard was it?" Dean said with a lop sided grin.

**When he heard their footsteps, he turned his head to look at them.**

**"Morning!" said Mr. Weasley brightly.**

**"Morning," said the Muggle.**

**"Would you be Mr. Roberts?"**

**"Aye, I would," said Mr. Roberts. "And who're you?"**

**"Weasley - two tents, booked a couple of days ago?" **

**"Aye," said Mr. Roberts, consulting a list tacked to the door. "You've got a space up by the wood there. Just the one night?"**

**"That's it," said Mr. Weasley.**

**"You'll be paying now, then?" said Mr. Roberts. **

"And here comes the problem." Colin said mournfully and all those integrated with the muggle world laughed in agreement.

**"Ah - right - certainly -" said Mr. Weasley. He retreated a short distance from the cottage and beckoned Harry toward him. "Help me, Harry," ****he muttered, pulling a roll of Muggle money from his pocket and starting to peel the notes apart. "This one's a - a - a ten? Ah yes, I see the little number on it now... So this is a five?"**

**"A twenty," Harry corrected him in an undertone, uncomfortably aware of Mr. Roberts trying to catch every word. **

"Lesson on muggle money." Hermione proposed and the people around her nodded as she sat on the table facing most of the hall as they were sat on the end closest to the teachers. Gabriel hopped up and walked over handing over some muggle money and leaned against the wall.

"Okay, in 1970 muggle money was decimalised which means it uses the system of hundreds." She held up a small copper coin. "So there are a hundred of these, pennies, for every pound." She told them.

"Pounds then go up in a pound coin, two pound coin, five pound note, ten pound note and twenty pound note." She held up each as an example. "And each of these had the value on them, the coins on one side, with a little 'p' for pence and the pounds with a symbol like this." Harry stood on her indicating and in thin air, with just his finger wrote a white '£'.

"And that concludes the lesson." Suddenly the Purebloods and some half bloods had a look of understanding on their face and nodded slowly as the Slytherin reclaimed her money.

**"Ah yes, so it is... I don't know, these little bits of paper..."**

**"You foreign?" said Mr. Roberts as Mr. Weasley returned with the correct notes. "Foreign?" repeated Mr. Weasley, puzzled.**

**"You're not the first one who's had trouble with money," said Mr. Roberts, scrutinizing Mr. Weasley closely. "I had two try and pay me with great gold coins the size of hubcaps ten minutes ago." **

People may or may not end up with bruises from face palms and head butting the table, just to warn you of the violence against furniture.

**"Did you really?" said Mr. Weasley nervously. **

**Mr. Roberts rummaged around in a tin for some change.**

**"Never been this crowded," he said suddenly, looking out over the misty field again. "Hundreds of pre-bookings. People usually just turn up..."**

**"Is that right?" said Mr. Weasley, his hand held out for his change, but Mr. Roberts didn't give it to him.**

**"Aye," he said thoughtfully. "People from all over. Loads of foreigners. And not just foreigners. Weirdos, you know? There's a bloke walking 'round in a kilt and a poncho." **

The laughter re-surficed.

**"Shouldn't he?" said Mr. Weasley anxiously**

**"It's like some sort of... I dunno ... like some sort of rally," said Mr. Roberts. "They all seem to know each other. Like a big party." **

A few people applauded the man.

**At that moment, a wizard in plus-fours appeared out of thin air next to Mr. Roberts's front door.**

**"Obliviate!" he said sharply, pointing his wand at Mr. Roberts.**

**Instantly, Mr. Roberts's eyes slid out of focus, his brows unknitted, and a took of dreamy unconcern fell over his face. Harry recognized the symptoms of one who had just had his memory modified. **

"Second year, Lockhart." And Harry left it at that though when he caught blue eyes that made his heart race he mouthed later to which they smiled, erring them a smirk from their best friend.

**"A map of the campsite for you," Mr. Roberts said placidly to Mr. Weasley. "And your change."**

**"Thanks very much," said Mr. Weasley.**

**The wizard in plus-fours accompanied them toward the gate to the campsite. He looked exhausted: His chin was blue with stubble and there were deep purple shadows under his eyes. Once out of earshot of Mr. Roberts, he muttered to Mr. Weasley, "Been having a lot of trouble with him. Needs a Memory Charm ten times a day to keep him happy. And Ludo Bagman's not helping. Trotting around talking about Bludgers and Quaffles at the top of his voice, not a worry about anti-Muggle security Blimey, I'll be glad when this is over. See you later, Arthur." **

"Wait, isn't Ludo Bagman the head of the Department of Magical Games and Sports?" A little first year from the Ravenclaws piped up.

"Doesn't mean he has a brain." Alicia smiled.

**He Disapparated.**

**"I thought Mr. Bagman was Head of Magical Games and Sports," said Ginny, looking surprised. "He should know better than to talk about Bludgers near Muggles, shouldn't he?"**

**"He should," said Mr. Weasley, smiling, and leading them through the gates into the campsite, "but Ludo's always been a bit ... well . . . lax about security. **

"A bit thick you mean." Katie said nudging Alicia and Angelina laughed happily with them.

**You couldn't wish for a more enthusiastic head of the sports department though. He played Quidditch for England himself, you know. And he was the best Beater the Wimbourne Wasps ever had." **

"They say!" Smith sneered and again was hit by his boyfriend. Anthony wondered what the best way to break up with a pompous git was...

**They trudged up the misty field between long rows of tents. Most looked almost ordinary; their owners had clearly tried to make them as Muggle-like as possible, but had slipped up by adding chimneys, or bellpulls, or weather vanes. **

"But they can sort of be over looked." Amelia _Cough _sorry Madam Bones pointed out reasonably and most agreed.

**However, here and there was a tent so obviously magical that Harry could hardly be surprised that Mr. Roberts was getting suspicious. Halfway up the field stood an extravagant confection of striped silk like a miniature palace, with several live peacocks tethered at the entrance. **

"Malfoys!" Blaise and Theo coughed in time and silver eyes narrowed on them.

"Pompus Gits." Gabriel didn't bother with the cough and just smiled.

**A little farther on they passed a tent that had three floors and several turrets; and a short way beyond that was a tent that had a front garden attached, complete with birdbath, sundial, and fountain.**

**"Always the same," said Mr. Weasley, smiling. "We can't resist showing off when we get together. **

"Actually I have to ask, don't werwolves do the same?" Hermione said perking up.

"Yeah, I thought they always try and prove who's best." Ashton said turning around.

"Nah, why bother, we only fight within our packs if someone challenges the Alpha, that's why Fenrir turned nasty coz he got de-bunked as the alpha, no true werewolves together are chaos because we can't helping having fun."

"True werwolves?" Remus said mildly.

"That's right pup, your not trained, a true werewolf doesn't need wolfsbane because our Alpha teaches us about out wolf, thanks to the ministry though that mostly fell apart, though Fenrir's old pack should have gotten to you, I'll owl and find out why." She offered. "And if I can't, my alpha might be able to help you but don't hold your breath, your a pup who should have grown up long ago." Her voice trailed off with a sad look in her eyes, when you were a pup is the worst time to be a werewolf, your so hungry and angry and in pain. You lose all control and it breaks you inside to know what you can do, and your Alpha always puts you back together.

**Ah, here we are, look, this is us."**

**They had reached the very edge of the wood at the top of the field, and here was an empty space, with a small sign hammered into the ground that read WEEZLY.**

Filius chuckle. "W-E-E-Z-L-Y." Most people also chuckled while Crabb and Goyle just scratched their heads.

**"Couldn't have a better spot!" said Mr. Weasley happily. "The field is just on the other side of the wood there, we're as close as we could be." He hoisted his backpack from his shoulders.**

**"Right," he said excitedly, "no magic allowed, strictly speaking, not when we're out in these numbers on Muggle land. We'll be putting these tents up by hand! Shouldn't be too difficult... Muggles do it all the time... Here, Harry, where do you reckon we should start?" **

"Not a typical muggle thing, who here can make a tent?" Charity Burbage, the Muggle studies teacher asked.

"Pitch!" Fifteen people out of four hundred raised their hands and half of them had corrected her.

**Harry had never been camping in his life; the Dursleys had never taken him on any kind of holiday, preferring to leave him with Mrs. Figg, an old neighbor.**

**However, he and Hermione worked out where most of the poles and pegs should go, and though Mr. Weasley was more of a hindrance than a help, because he got thoroughly overexcited when it came to using the mallet, **

Everyone chuckled or looked at him like he was mental as he blushed the famous colour.

**they finally managed to erect a pair of shabby two-man tents.**

**All of them stood back to admire their handiwork. Nobody looking at these tents would guess they belonged to wizards, Harry thought, but the trouble was that once Bill, Charlie, and Percy arrived, they would be a party of ten. Hermione seemed to have spotted this problem too; she gave Harry a quizzical look as Mr. Weasley dropped to his hands and knees and entered the first tent. **

Muggle borns raised raised their eyebrows while the others looked at them like they were idiots.

**"We'll be a bit cramped," he called, "but I think we'll all squeeze in. Come and have a look."**

**Harry bent down, ducked under the tent flap, and felt his jaw drop. He had walked into what looked like an old-fashioned, three room flat, complete with bathroom and kitchen. **

Jaw's dropped, on both sides, the purebloods couldn't believe that normal tents were any different.

**Oddly enough, it was furnished in exactly the same sort of style as Mrs. Figg's house: There were crocheted covers on the mismatched chairs and a strong smell of cats.**

"Ugh!"

"You have no idea!"

**"Well, it's not for long," said Mr. Weasley, mopping his bald patch with a handkerchief and peering in at the four bunk beds that stood in the bedroom. I borrowed this from Perkins at the office. Doesn't camp much anymore, poor fellow, he's got lumbago."**

**He picked up the dusty kettle and peered inside it. "We'll need water..."**

**"There's a tap marked on this map the Muggle gave us," said Ron, who had followed Harry inside the tent and seemed completely unimpressed by its extraordinary inner proportions. **

"Just an observation so quit staring at me." Harry snapped and the three Gryffindor chasers laughed moving to surround him.

**"It's on the other side of the field."**

**"Well, why don't you, Harry, and Hermione go and get us some water then" - Mr. Weasley handed over the kettle and a couple of saucepans - "and the rest of us will get some wood for a fire?" **

**"But we've got an oven," said Ron. "Why can't we just -" **

All the half decent Weasleys smirked at him.

**"Ron, anti-Muggle security!" said Mr. Weasley, his face shining with anticipation. "When real Muggles camp, they cook on fires outdoors. I've seen them at it!"**

**After a quick tour of the girls' tent, which was slightly smaller than the boys', though without the smell of cats, Harry, Ron, and Hermione set off across the campsite with the kettle and saucepans.**

**Now, with the sun newly risen and the mist lifting, they could see the city of tents that stretched in every direction. They made their way slowly through the rows, staring eagerly around. It was only just dawning on Harry how many witches and wizards there must be in the world; he had never really thought much about those in other countries. **

"Have you heard the rumors, I pretty sure he had other things to think about." Ashton snapped.

"Here! Here!" The twins grinned and the hufflepuff blushed brightly with a small smile.

**Their fellow campers were starting to wake up. First to stir were the families with small children; Harry had never seen witches and wizards this young before. A tiny boy no older than two was crouched outside a large pyramid-shaped tent, holding a wand and poking happily at a slug in the grass, which was swelling slowly to the size of a salami.**

Lavender looked green. "That's gross."

** As they drew level with him, his mother came hurrying out of the tent.**

**"How many times, Kevin? You don't - touch - Daddy's - wand - yecchh!"**

**She had trodden on the giant slug, which burst. **

Lavender ran from the hall, likely to throw up.

**Her scolding carried after them on the still air, mingling with the little boy's yells - "You bust slug! You bust slug!"**

"AW!" People sighed and laughed.

**A short way farther on, they saw two little witches, barely older than Kevin, who were riding toy broomsticks that rose only high enough for the girls' toes to skim the dewy grass. **

"I remember when you had one, your godfather bought it for your first birthday." Remus smiled.

"How cute was he when he was little?" Alicia asked as Harry blushed and grumbled.

"Incredibly, everyone use to compete for who could hold him." The werewolf grinned and Harry huffed and buried his head in a pillow.

**A Ministry wizard had already spotted them; as he hurried past Harry, Ron, and Hermione he muttered distractedly, "In broad daylight! Parents having a lie-in, I suppose -"**

"How irresponsible." Molly sniffed and a few people looked at her in disdain.

**Here and there adult wizards and witches were emerging from their tents and starting to cook breakfast. Some, wit****h furtive looks around them, conjured fires with their wands; others were striking matches with dubious looks on their faces, as though sure this couldn't work. **

Gabriel tossed a box to Hermione and a couple of other muggle raised on different tabels and they all lit the matches to astonished looks.

**Three African wizards sat in serious conversation, all of them wearing long white robes and roasting what looked like a rabbit on a bright purple fire, **

"Voodoo Queens." Ashton smiled and Gabriel laughed, It seemed she was extremely out spoken, she obviously said what she thought, how the hell had they not noticed her before.

**while a group of middle-aged American witches sat gossiping happily beneath a spangled banner stretched between their tents that read: THE SALEM WITCHES' INSTITUTE. Harry caught snatches of conversation in strange languages from the inside of tents they passed, and though he couldn't understand a word, the tone of every single voice was excited. **

"Archane, the ancient language of magic, you guys should know it but this schools to rubbish to do anything." Gabriel snorted.

"That's dark." Hermione gasped.

"That's is why you could never be a Ravenclaw." Luna said dreamily. "Never confuse ancient with dark."

**"Er - is it my eyes, or has everything gone green?" said Ron.**

**It wasn't just Ron's eyes. They had walked into a patch of tents that were all covered with a thick growth of shamrocks, so that it looked as though small, oddly shaped hillocks had sprouted out of the earth. **

"Wizards!" Over half the muggle raised cried, much to a few adults amusement.

**Grinning faces could be seen under those that had their flaps open. Then, from behind them, they heard their names.**

**"Harry! Ron! Hermione!"**

**It was Seamus Finnigan, **

Ron and the twins glared at him and he shrunk away from the three and into Dean who did what any friend would do. Move away and let him learn his lesson.

**their fellow Gryffindor fourth year. He was sitting in front of his own shamrock-covered tent, with a sandy-haired woman who had to be his mother, and his best friend, Dean Thomas, also of Gryffindor.**

**"Like the decorations?" said Seamus, grinning. "The Ministry's not too happy." **

"Unless it makes them look good, they never are." Bill whispered under his breath and his mouther hit him around the head.

**"Ah, why shouldn't we show our colors?" said Mrs. Finnigan. "You should see what the Bulgarians have got dangling all over their tents. You'll be supporting Ireland, of course?" she added, eyeing Harry, Ron, and Hermione beadily. **

"Didn't everyone minus the Romanian." Said one nodded in agreement.

**When they had assured her that they were indeed supporting Ireland, they set off again, though, as Ron said, "Like we'd say anything else surrounded by that lot."**

"Really he has tact." Pavarti muttered.

"We're surprised to." The twins said gob smacked.

**"I wonder what the Bulgarians have got dangling all over their tents?" said Hermione.**

**"Let's go and have a look," said Harry, pointing to a large patch of tents upfield, where the Bulgarian flag - white, green, and red - was fluttering in the breeze.**

**The tents here had not been bedecked with plant life, but each and every one of them had the same poster attached to it, a poster of a very surly face with heavy black eyebrows. The picture was, of course, moving, but all it did was blink and scowl. **

"That's all he ever did." Katie pointed out with a smile.

**"Krum," said Ron quietly.**

**"What?" said Hermione.**

**"Krum!" said Ron. "Viktor Krum, the Bulgarian Seeker!" **

**"He looks really grumpy," said Hermione, looking around at the many Krums blinking and scowling at them. **

Half the hall burst out laughing while the other half, the quidditch fan, looked scandalised.

**"'Really grumpy?" Ron raised his eyes to the heavens. "Who cares what he looks like? He's unbelievable. He's really young too. Only just eighteen or something. He's a genius, you wait until tonight, you'll see."**

"I think Harry could beat him." Angelina said proudly.

"Yeah right." Someone snorted and McGonagall cleared her throat to stop that argument in it's tracks.

**There was already a small queue for the tap in the corner of the field. Harry, Ron, and Hermione joined it, right behind a pair of men who were having a heated argument. One of them was a very old wizard who was wearing a long flowery nightgown. **

More laughs sounded from the hall at that.

**The other was clearly a Ministry wizard; he was holding out a pair of pinstriped trousers and almost crying with exasperation.**

**"Just put them on, Archie, there's a good chap. You can't walk around like that, the Muggle at the gate's already getting suspicious -" **

"That's not going to make them any less with everything else." Susan smiled and Hannah laughed next to her.

**"I bought this in a Muggle shop," said the old wizard stubbornly. "Muggles wear them."**

**"Muggle women wear them, Archie, not the men, they wear these," said the Ministry wizard, and he brandished the pinstriped trousers.**

**"I'm not putting them on," said old Archie in indignation. "I like a healthy breeze 'round my privates, thanks." **

Everyone was laughing, Hermione was melting into giggles.

**Hermione was overcome with such a strong fit of the giggles at this point that she had to duck out of the queue and only returned when Archie had collected his water and moved away.**

**Walking more slowly now, because of the weight of the water, they made their way back through the campsite. Here and there, they saw more familiar faces: other Hogwarts students with their families. Oliver Wood, the old captain of Harry's House Quidditch team, who had just left Hogwarts, dragged Harry over to his parents' tent to introduce him, and told him excitedly that he had just been signed to the Puddlemere United reserve team. **

The Gryffindors raised the roof with their cheering at that and it took McGonagall to calm them down.

**Next they were hailed by Ernie Macmillan, a Hufflepuff fourth year, and a little farther on they saw Cho Chang, a very pretty girl who played Seeker on the Ravenclaw team. She waved and smiled at Harry, who slopped quite a lot of water down his front as he waved back. **

Harry blushed and looked towards Theo and noticed something dark flash in his eyes.

**More to stop Ron from smirking than anything, Harry hurriedly pointed out a large group of teenagers whom he had never seen before. **

**"Who d'you reckon they are?" he said. "They don't go to Hogwarts, do they?"**

**"'Spect they go to some foreign school," said Ron. "I know there are others. Never met anyone who went to one, though. Bill had a penfriend at a school in Brazil ... this was years and years ago ... and he wanted to go on an exchange trip but Mum and Dad couldn't afford it. His penfriend got all offended when he said he wasn't going and sent him a cursed hat. It made his ears shrivel up." ****f cous**

Fleur giggled brightly and longing stares went in her direction that made her go from happy to cold in less than a second.

**Harry laughed but didn't voice the amazement he felt at hearing about other wizarding schools. He supposed, now that he saw representatives of so many nationalities in the campsite, that he had been stupid never to realize that Hogwarts couldn't be the only one. **

"Really Potter." Anthony smacked him in the back of the head again and walked away, sitting in Michael Corners lap who just wrapped his arm around best friends waist, resting his chin on the others shoulder contentedly.

Which of course got the gossipers going on a new couple and Anthony cheating on Smith.

Ginny glared at the back of Michael's head, what was he thinking, sparking rumours and being with that freak of nature.

**He glanced at Hermione, who looked utterly unsurprised by the information. No doubt she had run across the news about other wizarding schools in some book or other.**

**"You've been ages," said George when they finally got back to the Weasleys' tents.**

**"Met a few people," said Ron, setting the water down. "You've not got that fire started yet?"**

**"Dad's having fun with the matches," said Fred. **

A vast amount of people shook their heads fondly.

**Mr. Weasley was having no success at all in lighting the fire, but it wasn't for lack of trying. Splintered matches littered the ground around him, but he looked as though he was having the time of his life.**

**"Oops!" he said as he managed to light a match and promptly dropped it in surprise. **

People tried to repress the snort but a few slipped through leaving them with that look of mingled apologetic and amused.

**"Come here, Mr. Weasley," said Hermione kindly, taking the box from him, and showing him how to do it properly.**

**At last they got the fire lit, though it was at least another hour before it was hot enough to cook anything. There was plenty to watch while they waited, however. Their tent seemed to be pitched right alongside a kind of thoroughfare to the field, and Ministry members kept hurrying up and down it, greeting Mr. Weasley cordially as they passed. Mr. Weasley kept up a running commentary, mainly for Harry's and Hermione's benefit; his own children knew too much about the Ministry to be greatly interested. **

"You lot did?" Pansy sneered.

"Shut it Pansy we're not all snobs." Daphne Greengrass snapped earning an appreciative applause from the rest of the fifth years.

**"That was Cuthbert Mockridge, Head of the Goblin Liaison Office... Here comes Gilbert Wimple; he's with the Committee on Experimental Charms; he's had those horns for a while now... **

Giggles burst forth at the image but easy enough to read over.

**Hello, Arnie ... Arnold Peasegood, he's an Obliviator - member of the Accidental Magic Reversal Squad, you know... and that's Bode and Croaker ... they're Unspeakables..."**

**"They're what?"**

**"From the Department of Mysteries, top secret, no idea what they get up to..." **

"Few people do." Ame... Madam Bones added in an unintentionally mysterious voice.

**At last, the fire was ready, and they had just started cooking eggs and sausages when Bill, Charlie, and Percy came strolling out of the woods toward them.**

**"Just Apparated, Dad," said Percy loudly. "Ah, excellent, lunch!" **

"Security!" The twins sung loudly with giant grins but if you looked you could see the anger and hurt shining in their eyes, but then again, only three people did, one Gryffindor, a Hufflepuff with a tattoo, and a mischievous Slytherin who seemed to know to much about what was going on around her.

**They were halfway through their plates of eggs and sausages when Mr. Weasley jumped to his feet, waving and grinning at a man who was striding toward them. "Aha!" he said. "The man of the moment! Ludo!" **

The twins fully let their faces darken.

**Ludo Bagman was easily the most noticeable person Harry had seen so far, even including old Archie in his flowered nightdress. **

Insert giggles here.

**He was wearing long Quidditch robes in thick horizontal stripes of bright yellow and black. An enormous picture of a wasp was splashed across his chest. He had the look of a powerfully built man gone slightly to seed; the robes were stretched tightly across a large belly he surely had not had in the days when he had played Quidditch for England. His nose was squashed (probably broken by a stray Bludger, Harry thought), but his round blue eyes, short blond hair, and rosy complexion made him look like a very overgrown schoolboy. **

"Down to a T Mr Potter." Amelia, screw it, she's to cool to keep calling Madam Bones, smiled and he gave her one back, a blush creeping up his cheeks slightly leading to teasing from the three Chasers about how cute he was.

**"Ahoy there!" Bagman called happily. He was walking as though he had springs attached to the balls of his feet and was plainly in a state of wild excitement.**

**"Arthur, old man," he puffed as he reached the campfire, "what a day, eh? What a day! Could we have asked for more perfect weather? A cloudless night coming ... and hardly a hiccough in the arrangements... Not much for me to do!" **

Jaws dropped, anyone who was there knew, objectively, there was tuns to do.

**Behind him, a group of haggard-looking Ministry wizards rushed past, pointing at the distant evidence of some sort of a magical fire that was sending violet sparks twenty feet into the air. **

**Percy hurried forward with his hand outstretched. Apparently his disapproval of the way Ludo Bagman ran his department did not prevent him from wanting to make a good impression. **

Suddenly water dropped on the prats head and eyes turned to Gabriel who raised her arms in a 'it wasn't me' gesture leading Amelia to groan and decide to call Kingsley and Tonks later, if it was who she thought it was they were great Aurors but they very much ran by their own rules.

**"Ah - yes," said Mr. Weasley, grinning, "this is my son Percy. He's just started at the Ministry - and this is Fred - no, George, sorry - that's Fred**

Harry absently bobbed his head as Padfoot jumped up to the sofa placing his head in his godsons lap.

** - Bill, Charlie, Ron - my daughter, Ginny and Ron's friends, Hermione Granger and Harry Potter."**

**Bagman did the smallest of double takes when he heard Harry's name, and his eyes performed the familiar flick upward to the scar on Harry's forehead.**

And it turned out to be a good thing because it help drain the tension out of him when other people did it.

**"Everyone," Mr. Weasley continued, "this is Ludo Bagman, you know who he is, it's thanks to him we've got such good tickets -"**

**Bagman beamed and waved his hand as if to say it had been nothing.**

**"Fancy a flutter on the match, Arthur?" he said eagerly, jingling what seemed to be a large amount of gold in the pockets of his yellow-and-black robes. "I've already got Roddy Pontner betting me Bulgaria will score first - I offered him nice odds, considering Ireland's front three are the strongest I've seen in years - and little Agatha Timms has put up half shares in her eel farm on a weeklong match."**

**"Oh ... go on then," said Mr. Weasley. "Let's see ... a Galleon on Ireland to win?" **

"Arthur! How could you! Betting in front of children! You should be setting an example!"

"Will you shut up." Molly turned to the Malfoy heir who was rubbing his temples.

**"A Galleon?" Ludo Bagman looked slightly disappointed, but recovered himself. "Very well, very well ... any other takers?"**

**"They're a bit young to be gambling," said Mr. Weasley. "Molly wouldn't like -" **

"Molly doesn't like a lot it seems." Padma muttered under her breath to her friends who agreed firmly.

**"We'll bet thirty-seven Galleons, fifteen Sickles, three Knuts," said Fred as he and George quickly pooled all their money, "that Ireland wins - but Viktor Krum gets the Snitch. Oh and we'll throw in a fake wand." **

Eyes widened in shock as they turned slowly to the twins who just grinned brightly and said nothing.

**"You don't want to go showing Mr. Bagman rubbish like that," Percy hissed, but Bagman didn't seem to think the wand was rubbish at all; on the contrary, his boyish face shone with excitement as he took it from Fred, and when the wand gave a loud squawk and turned into a rubber chicken, Bagman roared with laughter.**

**"Excellent! I haven't seen one that convincing in years! I'd pay five Galleons for that!"**

**Percy froze in an attitude of stunned disapproval. **

Snickers filled every space, it was slightly unearthly but no one seemed to notice.

**"Boys," said Mr. Weasley under his breath, "I don't want you betting... That's all your savings ... Your mother -"**

Molly swelled ready to give a speech.

"Their our savings-

Why can't we-

Do what we want-

With them?" The twins huffed annoyed and Harry nodded as well, when it's your life you should be allowed to do what you want.

**"Don't be a spoilsport, Arthur!" boomed Ludo Bagman, rattling his pockets excitedly. "They're old enough to know what they want! You reckon Ireland will win but Krum'll get the Snitch? Not a chance, boys, not a chance... I'll give you excellent odds on that one ... We'll add five Galleons for the funny wand, then, shall we..."**

**Mr. Weasley looked on helplessly as Ludo Bagman whipped out a notebook and quill and began jotting down the twins' names. **

Molly swelled to burst but mysteriously her mouth had disappeared.

**"Cheers," said George, taking the slip of parchment Bagman handed him and tucking it away into the front of his robes. Bagman turned most cheerfully back to Mr. Weasley.**

"Idiots." Charlie hit them around the heads.

"Alway leave some for a contingency plan." Bill swatted their knees and they look appropriately sheepish.

**"Couldn't do me a brew, I suppose? I'm keeping an eye out for Barty Crouch. My Bulgarian opposite number's making difficulties, and I can't understand a word he's saying. Barty'll be able to sort it out. He speaks about a hundred and fifty languages."**

**"Mr. Crouch?" said Percy, suddenly abandoning his look of poker-stiff disapproval and positively writhing with excitement. **

Dean couldn't stop the snort and others soon caught on either laughing or feeling a strong wave of revulsion.

**"He speaks over two hundred! Mermish and Gobbledegook and Troll. . ."**

**"Anyone can speak Troll," said Fred dismissively. "All you have to do is point and grunt." **

"There is a little more to it than that but effectively yes." Dumbeldore said with his usual twinkle, looking at the wrong twin which made Harry snort and people stare at him like was crazy, not that they didn't any way.

**Percy threw Fred an extremely nasty look and stoked the fire vigorously to bring the kettle back to the boil.**

**"Any news of Bertha Jorkins yet, Ludo?" Mr. Weasley asked as Bagman settled himself down on the grass beside them all.**

**"Not a dicky bird," said Bagman comfortably. "But she'll turn up. Poor old Bertha ... memory like a leaky cauldron and no sense of direction. Lost, you take my word for it. She'll wander back into the office sometime in October, thinking it's still July." **

"That's not the Bertha I remember." Remus muttered while Harry shivered, thinking of the poor women.

**"You don't think it might be time to send someone to look for her?" Mr. Weasley suggested tentatively as Percy handed Bagman his tea.**

**"Barty Crouch keeps saying that," said Bagman, his round eyes widening innocently, "but we really can't spare anyone at the moment. Oh - talk of the devil! Barty!" **

"Talk of the devil?" Astoria Greengrass asked.

"It's from an old saying 'speak of the devil and the devil shall appear' represents the power in a name." Justin explained and got a small smile in thanks.

**A wizard had just Apparated at their fireside, and he could not have made more of a contrast with Ludo Bagman, sprawled on the grass in his old Wasp robes. Barty Crouch was a stiff, upright, elderly man, dressed in an impeccably crisp suit and tie. The parting in his short gray hair was almost unnaturally straight, and his narrow toothbrush mustache looked as though he trimmed it using a slide rule. His shoes were very highly polished. Harry could see at once why Percy idolized him. Percy was a great believer in rigidly following rules, and Mr. Crouch had complied with the rule about Muggle dressing so thoroughly that he could have passed for a bank manager; Harry doubted even Uncle Vernon would have spotted him for what he really was. **

"High praise." Harry drawled, combing the Grimms fur who let out a low purring growl from low in his throat.

**"Pull up a bit of grass, Barry," said Ludo brightly, patting the ground beside him.**

**"No thank you, Ludo," said Crouch, and there was a bite of impatience in his voice. "I've been looking for you everywhere. The Bulgarians are insisting we add another twelve seats to the Top Box."**

**"Oh is that what they're after?" said Bagman. "I thought the chap was asking to borrow a pair of tweezers. Bit of a strong accent." **

"Not impressed, not impressed at all." Gabriel drawled, her European accent pulling through and a few snickered around her.

**"Mr. Crouch!" said Percy breathlessly, sunk into a kind of halfbow that made him look like a hunchback. "Would you like a cup of tea?"**

**"Oh," said Mr. Crouch, looking over at Percy in mild surprise. "Yes - thank you, Weatherby."**

**Fred and George choked into their own cups. **

And laughed out right now, howling and collapsing into their elder brothers who held them, chuckling deeply themselves.

**Percy, very pink around the ears, busied himself with the kettle.**

**"Oh and I've been wanting a word with you too, Arthur," said Mr. Crouch, his sharp eyes falling upon Mr. Weasley. "Ali Bashir's on the warpath. He wants a word with you about your embargo on flying carpets."**

**Mr. Weasley heaved a deep sigh.**

**"I sent him an owl about that just last week. If I've told him once I've told him a hundred times: Carpets are defined as a Muggle Artifact by the Registry of Proscribed Charmable Objects, but will he listen?" **

"No one ever does, mortal or immortal." This came from Ashton who ignored the looks she got though an incredible blush blossomed.

**"I doubt it," said Mr. Crouch, accepting a cup from Percy. "He's desperate to export here."**

**"Well, they'll never replace brooms in Britain, will they?" said Bagman.**

**"Ali thinks there's a niche in the market for a family vehicle, said Mr. Crouch. "I remember my grandfather had an Axminster that could seat twelve - but that was before carpets were banned, of course."**

**He spoke as though he wanted to leave nobody in any doubt that all his ancestors had abided strictly by the law. **

Harry choked on his laughter and wouldn't explain while the dog using his lap as a pillow growled darkly.

**"So, been keeping busy, Barty?" said Bagman breezily.**

**"Fairly," said Mr. Crouch dryly. "Organizing Portkeys across five continents is no mean feat, Ludo."**

**"I expect you'll both be glad when this is over?" said Mr. Weasley. Ludo Bagman looked shocked.**

**"Glad! Don't know when I've had more fun... Still, it's not as though we haven't got anything to took forward to, eh, Barty? Eh? Plenty left to organize, eh?" **

"What the hell is it with people and being arses?" Lee mused from his spot at Fred's feet.

**Mr. Crouch raised his eyebrows at Bagman.**

**"We agreed not to make the announcement until all the details -"**

**"Oh details!" said Bagman, waving the word away like a cloud of midges. "They've signed, haven't they? They've agreed, haven't they? I bet you anything these kids'll know soon enough anyway. I mean, it's happening at Hogwarts -"**

**"Ludo, we need to meet the Bulgarians, you know," said Mr. Crouch sharply, cutting Bagman's remarks short. "Thank you for the tea, Weatherby." **

May the snorts ensue.

**He pushed his undrunk tea back at Percy and waited for Ludo to rise; Bagman struggled to his feet, swigging down the last of his tea, the gold in his pockets chinking merrily.**

**"See you all later!" he said. "You'll be up in the Top Box with me - I'm commentating!" He waved, Barty Crouch nodded curtly, and both of them Disapparated. **

"He was good-

But he didn't match Lee." The twins talked in their normal way and Lee stuttered slightly much to their amusement.

**"What's happening at Hogwarts, Dad?" said Fred at once. "What were they talking about?"**

**"You'll find out soon enough," said , smiling.**

**"It's classified information, until such time as the Ministry decides to release it," said Percy stiffly. "Mr. Crouch was quite right not to disclose it." **

"Part!" Ginny hissed like a cat.

"Ginny!" Three guesses and if you need the last two you need to re-read the series.

**"Oh shut up, Weatherby," said Fred.**

Need I say it?

**A sense of excitement rose like a palpable cloud over the campsite as the afternoon wore on. By dusk, the still summer air itself seemed to be quivering with anticipation, and as darkness spread like a curtain over the thousands of waiting wizards, the last vestiges of pretence disappeared: the Ministry seemed to have bowed to the inevitable and stopped fighting the signs of blatant magic now breaking out everywhere. **

"Even if we hadn't there wasn't enough people to deal with it." Amelia explained.

**Salesmen were Apparating every few feet, carrying trays and pushing carts full of extraordinary merchandise. There were luminous rosettes - green for Ireland, red for Bulgaria - which were squealing the names of the players, pointed green hats bedecked with dancing shamrocks, Bulgarian scarves adorned with lions that really roared, flags from both countries that played their national anthems as they were waved; there were tiny models of Firebolts that really flew, and collectible figures of famous players, which strolled across the palm of your hand, preening themselves. **

"Well the vast majority."

**"Been saving my pocket money all summer for this," Ron told Harry as they and Hermione strolled through the salesmen, buying souvenirs. Though Ron purchased a dancing shamrock hat and a large green rosette, he also bought a small figure of Viktor Krum, the Bulgarian Seeker. The miniature Krum walked backward and forward over Ron's hand, scowling up at the green rosette above him. **

"Really Ron, that starstruck." Charlie teased brightly and Ron shoved him but the burley dragon keeper barely budged.

**"Wow, look at these!" said Harry, hurrying over to a cart piled high with what looked like brass binoculars, except that they were covered with all sorts of weird knobs and dials.**

**"Omnioculars," said the saleswizard eagerly. "You can replay action ... slow everything down ... and they flash up a play-by- play breakdown if you need it. Bargain - ten Galleons each." **

"Good price." Flitwick agreed absently.

**"Wish I hadn't bought this now," said Ron, gesturing at his dancing shamrock hat and gazing longingly at the Omnioculars.**

**"Three pairs," said Harry firmly to the wizard.**

**"No - don't bother," said Ron, going red. He was always touchy about the fact that Harry, who had inherited a fortune from his parents, had much more money than he did. **

"Yep, a fortunes so much better than having a family." Theo snarked darkly, chuckling low and harshly in his throat but it still came out like black velvet and Ron shrunk in on himself.

**"You won't be getting anything for Christmas," Harry told him, thrusting Omnioculars into his and Hermione's hands. "For about ten years, mind."**

**"Fair enough," said Ron, grinning.**

**"Oooh, thanks, Harry," said Hermione. "And I'll get us some programs, look -"**

**Their money bags considerably lighter, they went back to the tents. Bill, Charlie, and Ginny were all sporting green rosettes too, and Mr. Weasley was carrying an Irish flag. Fred and George had no souvenirs as they had given Bagman all their gold. **

"I though Harry would have got you something." Neville mused then blushed realising he'd said it out loud.

"No he tried-

but we didn't let him."

**And then a deep, booming gong sounded somewhere beyond the woods, and at once, green and red lanterns blazed into life in the trees, lighting a path to the field.**

**"It's time!" said Mr. Weasley, looking as excited as any of them. "Come on, let's go!" **

People jigged their legs wanting to here more.

"Chapter."

"Can I please professor?" Lee asked and had the book levitated down to him.


	6. The Quidditch World Cup

**CHAPTER EIGHT - THE QUIDDITCH WORLD CUP **Lee barely got the words out over the screaming, it was immense.

**Clutching their purchases, Mr. Weasley in the lead, they all hurried into the wood, following the lantern-lit trail. They could hear the sounds of thousands of people moving around them, shouts and laughter, snatches of singing. The atmosphere of feverish excitement was highly infectious; Harry couldn't stop grinning. **

"Your far from the only one." A Slytherin seventh year chuckled lightly and was met with many looks of surprise and scathing ones from his own house.

**They walked through the wood for twenty minutes, talking and joking loudly, until at last they emerged on the other side and found themselves in the shadow of a gigantic stadium. Though Harry could see only a fraction of the immense gold walls surrounding the field, he could tell that ten cathedrals would fit comfortably inside it. **

Whistles of shock and appreciation rang through the hall while both the minister and Umbitch sat up straighter in their seats with pride and superiority.

**"Seats a hundred thousand," said Mr. Weasley, spotting the awestruck look on Harry's face. "Ministry task force of five hundred have been working on it all year. Muggle Repelling Charms on every inch of it.****Every time Muggles have got an****ywhere near here all year, they've suddenly remembered urgent appointments and had to dash away again ... bless them," he added fondly, **

"They not idiots and it's not their fault they don't know about magic." Colin muttered under his breath, thinking of his parents and the head of the Weasley family blushed scarlet.

**leading the way toward the nearest entrance, which was already surrounded by a swarm of shouting witches and wizards.**

**"Prime seats!" said the Ministry witch at the entrance when she checked their tickets. "Top Box! Straight upstairs, Arthur, and as high as you can go."**

"How the hell did a blood traitor get their." Pansy sneered.

"Twenty points from Slytherin." McGonagall snapped and the Slytherins glared at her for the lack of subtleness.

**The stairs into the stadium were carpeted in rich purple. They clambered upward with the rest of the crowd, which slowly filtered away through doors into the stands to their left and right. Mr. Weasley's party kept climbing, and at last they reached the top of the staircase and found themselves in a small box, set at the highest point of the stadium and situated exactly halfway between the golden goal posts. About twenty purple-and-gilt chairs stood in two rows here, and Harry, filing into the front seats with the Weasleys, looked down upon a scene the likes of which he could never have imagined. **

"It was incredible." Dean said dreamily.

"Understatement." Fred snorted.

**A hundred thousand witches and wizards were taking their places in the seats, which rose in levels around the long oval field. Everything was suffused with a mysterious golden light, which seemed to come from the stadium itself. The field looked smooth as velvet from their lofty position. At either end of the field stood three goal hoops, fifty feet high; **

"That sounds so good." Neville muttered under his breath, he wished his Gran had let him go but she thought it was a waist of money and he hadn't earned it with his grades, why was he always a disappointment.

**right opposite them, almost at Harry's eye level, was a gigantic blackboard. Gold writing kept dashing across it as though an invisible giant's hand were scrawling upon the blackboard and then wiping it off again; watching it, Harry saw that it was flashing advertisements across the field. **

**The Bluebottle: A Broom for All the Family - safe, reliable, and with Built-in Anti-Burgler Buzzer ... Mrs. Shower's All Purpose Magical Mess Remover: No Pain, No Stain! ... Gladrags Wizardwear - London, Paris, Hogsmeade... **

"That's so cool." Dennis bounced and a fourth year put a hand on his head to hold him in place.

**Harry tore his eyes away from the sign and looked over his shoulder to see who else was sharing the box with them. So far it was empty, except for a tiny creature sitting in the second from last seat at the end of the row behind them. The creature, whose legs were so short they stuck out in front of it on the chair, was wearing a tea towel draped like a toga, and it had its face hidden in its hands. Yet those long, batlike ears were oddly familiar...**

**"Dobby?" said Harry incredulously. **

**"**Not every house elf is Dobby." Hermione chided.

"I know that but as he's the only house elf I've ever meet my mind jumped to him." Harry huffed and took a refuge between the twins again.

**The tiny creature looked up and stretched its fingers, revealing enormous brown eyes and a nose the exact size and shape of a large tomato.**

**It wasn't Dobby - it was, however, unmistakably a house-elf, **

"Really." Draco drawled but Harry just snuggled further back into Fred.

**as Harry's friend Dobby had been. Harry had set Dobby free from his old owners, the Malfoy family. **

"I may have tricked Lucius into giving him clothes." Harry grinned, the hall was surprised when the twins swooped down and each gave him a kiss that made him flush scarlet.

**"Did sir just call me Dobby?" squeaked the elf curiously from between its fingers. Its voice was higher even than Dobby's had been, a teeny, quivering squeak of a voice, and Harry suspected though it was very hard to tell with a house-elf - that this one might just be female. Ron and Hermione spun around in their seats to look. Though they had heard a lot about Dobby from Harry, they had never actually met him. Even Mr. Weasley looked around in interest. **

"Curiosity killed the cat." Luna hummed.

"But it gave the wolf dinner." Gabriel smiled lightly and the Ravenclaw laughed.

**"Sorry," Harry told the elf, "I just thought you were someone I knew." **

"You talk to it like it's a person." Pansy snorted.

"They think, they feel, you think your superior because your human but destroy that by treating them as anything less." They were taken aback by the biting tone to Harry's voice and Padfoot barked his agreement, Amelia leaned over and whispered something to Filius.

"Twenty points to Gryffindor for an excellent philosophy." Harry blushed and the twins pulled him closer with chuckles.

**"But I knows Dobby too, sir!" squeaked the elf. **

**"****Small world." Charlie grinned. **

**She was shielding her face, as though blinded by light, though the Top Box was not brightly lit. "My name is Winky, sir - and you, sir -" Her dark brown eyes widened to the size of side plates as they rested upon Harry's scar. "You is surely Harry Potter!" **

"Give it a rest, most of you have been in school with him for years, get over it." George snapped and people quickly turned their heads away.

**"Yeah, I am," said Harry.**

**"But Dobby talks of you all the time, sir!" she said, lowering her hands very slightly and looking awestruck.**

**"How is he?" said Harry. "How's freedom suiting him?" **

People, mostly the wizarding raised couldn't believe how he was talking to or about the house elves.

**"Ah, sir," said Winky, shaking her head, "ah sir, meaning no disrespect, sir, but I is not sure you did Dobby a favor, sir, when you is setting him free."**

**"Why?" said Harry, taken aback. "What's wrong with him?" **

"Why do you care, he almost killed you?" Ron grumbled.

"Because he's got a good heart and tried to protect me."

**"Freedom is going to Dobby's head, sir, " said Winky sadly. "Ideas above his station, sir. Can't get another position, sir."**

**"Why not?" said Harry.**

**Winky lowered her voice by a half-octave and whispered, "He is wanting paying for his work, sir." **

The purebloods pulled faces.

**"Paying?" said Harry blankly. "Well - why shouldn't he be paid?"**

**Winky looked quite horrified at the idea and closed her fingers slightly so that her face was half-hidden again. **

Harry chuckled fondly, he got house elves and he thought their mannerisms were pretty funny.

**"House-elves is not paid, sir!" she said i****n a muffled squeak. "No, no, no. I says to Dobby, I says, go find yourself a nice family and settle down, Dobby. He is getting up to all sorts of high jinks, sir, what is unbecoming to a house-elf. You goes racketing around like this, Dobby, I says, and next thing I hear you's up in front of the Department for the Regulation and Control of Magical Creatures, like some common goblin." **

"Ouch, the goblins wouldn't like that." Bill chuckled.

"They don't like much." Charlie chuckled.

Bill grabbed his brother around the waist and dug his fingers into his side, in retaliation Charlie placed his hand on the elders shoulder, squeezing tight much to Arthur's amusement who just left his sons to it.

**"Well, it's about time he had a bit of fun," said Harry.**

**"House-elves is not supposed to have fun, Harry Potter," said Winky firmly, from behind her hands. "House-elves does what they is told. I is not liking heights at all, Harry Potter" - she glanced toward the edge of the box and gulped - "but my master sends me to the Top Box and I comes, sir."**

"That's just taking advantage." Arthur frowned.

**"Why's he sent you up here, if he kn****ows you don't like heights?" said Harry, frowning.**

**"Master - master wants me to save him a seat, Harry Potter. He is very busy," said Winky, tilting her head toward the empty space beside her. "Winky is wishing she is back in master's tent, Harry Potter, but Winky does what she is told. Winky is a good house-elf." **

"She was a great elf." Harry mused sadly.

**She gave the edge of the box another frightened look and hid her eyes completely again. Harry turned back to the others.**

**"So that's a house-elf?" Ron muttered. "Weird things, aren't they?"**

**"Dobby was weirder," said Harry fervently. **

"Maybe but that's just how they are." Susan shrugged.

**Ron pulled out his Omnioculars and started testing them, staring down into the crowd on the other side of the stadium.**

**"Wild!" he said, twiddling the replay knob on the side. I can make that old bloke down there pick his nose again ... and again ... and again. . ." **

"OW!" Ginny smacked him around the back of the head for being the idiot he was.

**Hermione, meanwhile, was skimming eagerly through her velvet covered, tasselled program.**

**"'A display from the team mascots will precede the match,"' she read aloud.**

**"Oh that's always worth watching," said Mr. Weasley. "National teams bring creatures from their native land, you know, to put on a bit of a show."**

**The box filled gradually around them over the next half hour. Mr. Weasley kept shaking hands with people who were obviously very important wizards. Percy jumped to his feet so often that he looked as though he were trying to sit on a hedgehog. **

The Weasley kids, Harry, and a few others burst out laughing at that, nearly falling on the floor from their sofas.

**When Cornelius Fudge, the Minister of Magic himself, arrived, Percy bowed so low that his glasses fell off and shattered. **

Fred and George were using Harry as an anchor to keep in place at this point.

**Highly embarrassed, he repaired them with his wand and thereafter remained in his seat, throwing jealous looks at Harry, whom Cornelius Fudge had greeted like an old friend. **

"How things change." Harry drawled as the twins wiped away tears, Umbitch flushed red in anger and Fudge in embarrassment.

**They had met before, and Fudge shook Harry's hand in a fatherly fashion, asked how he was, and introduced him to the wizards on either side of him.**

**"Harry Potter, you know," he told the Bulgarian minister loudly, who was wearing splendid robes of black velvet trimmed with gold and didn't seem to understand a word of English. **

Those who had been in the top box had a look of amusement that was quiet evident as the 'Mighty Minister' flushed.

**"Harry Potter ... oh come on now, you know who he is ... the boy who survived You-Know-Who ... you do know who he is -"**

**The Bulgarian wizard suddenly spotted Harry's scar and started gabbling loudly and excitedly, pointing at it. **

The young Ravenette Griffin wrinkled his nose.

**"Knew we'd get there in the end," said Fudge wearily to Harry. "I'm no great shakes at languages; I need Barty Crouch for this sort of thing. Ah, I see his house- elf's saving him a seat... Good job too, these Bulgarian blighters have been trying to cadge all the best places ... ah, and here's Lucius!" **

Cue the groans maestro.

**Harry, Ron, and Hermione turned quickly. Edging along the second row to three still-empty seats right behind Mr. Weasley were none other than Dobby the house- elf's former owners: Lucius Malfoy; his son, Draco; and a woman Harry supposed must be Draco's mother. **

Who knew Lions could hiss.

**Harry and Draco Malfoy had been enemies ever since their very first journey to Hogwarts. A pale boy with a pointed face and white-blond hair, Draco greatly resembled his father. His mother was blonde too; tall and slim, she would have been nice-looking if she hadn't been wearing a look that suggested there was a nasty smell under her nose. **

A few tried to restrain the laughs, needless to say they failed. Umbridge sniffed at him dissgracing such a pure and noble family.

**"Ah, Fudge," said Mr. Malfoy, holding out his hand as he reached the Minister of Magic. "How are you? I don't think you've met my wife, Narcissa? Or our son, Draco?"**

**"How do you do, how do you do?" said Fudge, smiling and bowing to Mrs. Malfoy. "And allow me to introduce you to Mr. Oblansk - Obalonsk - Mr. - well, he's the Bulgarian Minister of Magic, and he can't understand a word I'm saying anyway, so never mind. And let's see who else - you know Arthur Weasley, I daresay?" **

"I'll say." Harry grinned.

**It was a tense moment. Mr. Weasley and Mr. Malfoy looked at each other and Harry vividly recalled the last time they had come face-to-face: It had been in Flourish and Blotts' bookshop, and they had had a fight. **

The exact incident he had been thinking of.

**Mr. Malfoy's cold gray eyes swept over Mr. Weasley, and then up and down the row.**

**"Good lord, Arthur," he said softly. "What did you have to sell to get seats in the Top Box? Surely your house wouldn't have fetched this much?"**

Lions definitely growled as well.

**Fudge, who wasn't listening, said, "Lucius has just given a very generous contribution to St. Mungo's Hospital for Magical Maladies and Injuries, Arthur. He's here as my guest."**

**"How - how nice," said Mr. Weasley, with a very strained smile.**

**Mr. Malfoy's eyes had returned to Hermione, who went slightly pink, but stared determinedly back at him. **

And of course cheered but how could the party house not, especially at that.

**Harry knew exactly what was making Mr. Malfoy's lip curl like that. The Malfoys prided themselves on being purebloods; in other words, they considered anyone of Muggle descent, like Hermione, second-class.**

Several people in the hall snorted, Ashton, Gabriel and Harry the most noticeable and Slytherins glared at their own before remembering with disgust that she was a dirty werewolf.

**However, under the gaze of the Minister of Magic, Mr. Malfoy didn't dare say anything. He nodded sneeringly to Mr. Weasley and continued down the line to his seats. Draco shot Harry, Ron, and Hermione one contemptuous look, then settled himself between his mother and father.**

**"Slimy gits," Ron muttered as he, Harry, and Hermione turned to face the field again. Next moment, Ludo Bagman charged into the box. **

Quiet a few cheered loudly, the twins not included.

**"Everyone ready?" he said, his round face gleaming like a great, excited Edam. "Minister - ready to go?"**

**"Ready when you are, Ludo," said Fudge comfortably.**

**Ludo whipped out his wand, directed it at his own throat, and said "Sonorus!" and then spoke over the roar of sound that was now filling the packed stadium; his voice echoed over them, booming into every corner of the stands.**

**"Ladies and gentlemen. . . welcome! Welcome to the final of the four hundred and twenty-second Quidditch World Cup!" **

The hall roared as one and the lions did their pride proud in terms of vocals.

**The spectators screamed and clapped. Thousands of flags waved, adding their discordant national anthems to the racket. The huge blackboard opposite them was wiped clear of its last message (Bertie Bott's Every Flavor Beans - A Risk With Every Mouthful!) and now showed BULGARIA: 0, IRELAND: 0.**

**"And now, without further ado, allow me to introduce. . . the Bulgarian National Team Mascots!"**

**The right-hand side of the stands, which was a solid block of scarlet, roared its approval.**

**"I wonder what they've brought," said Mr. Weasley, leaning forward in his seat. "Aaah!" He suddenly whipped off his glasses and polished them hurriedly on his robes. "Veela!" **

People leaned forward in their seats, some like Ron got a glazed looked and others were interested in how Harry reacted.

**"What are veel -?"**

**But a hundred veela were now gliding out onto the field, and Harry's question was answered for him. Veela were women. . . the most beautiful women Harry had ever seen. . . except that they weren't - they couldn't be - human. This puzzled Harry for a moment while he tried to guess what exactly they could be; what could make their skin shine moon-bright like that, or their white-gold hair fan out behind them without wind.. . but then the music started, and Harry stopped worrying about them not being human - in fact, he stopped worrying about anything at all. **

"Cool." Dennis muttered.

"Scary." Harry corrected. "Being so totally oblivious to your surroundings, to what you're doing and being so easily lead." He shivered.

Padfoot barked and nuzzled his Godsons thigh, something that could only be pride shining in his eyes. Harry moved to the floor and started to run his hands through the Grimm's fur.

**The veela had started to dance, and Harry's mind had gone completely and blissfully blank. All that mattered in the world was that he kept watching the veela, because if they stopped dancing, terrible things would happen.**

**And as the veela danced faster and faster, wild, half-formed thoughts started chasing through Harry's dazed mind. He wanted to do something very impressive, right now. Jumping from the box into the stadium seemed a good idea. . . but would it be good enough? **

"See what I mean now Dennis, that's why I don't let it affect me anymore." Harry told the younger Griffin and Fleur shook her head. "And it's not fair to them, Veela only have so much control of their allure and people should seem them for who they are, not just their Aura."

"And that 'Arry is why I love you." Fleur joked and Harry blushed but still laughed it off.

**"Harry, what are you doing?" said Hermione's voice from a long way off.**

**The music stopped. Harry blinked. He was standing up, and one of his legs was resting on the wall of the box. Next to him, Ron was frozen in an attitude that looked as though he were about to dive from a springboard. **

People snickered while others flushed, Ron a lovely maroon.

**Angry yells were filling the stadium. The crowd didn't want the veela to go. Harry was with them; he would, of course, be supporting Bulgaria, and he wondered vaguely why he had a large green shamrock pinned to his chest. Ron, meanwhile, was absentmindedly shredding the shamrocks on his hat. Mr. Weasley, smiling slightly, leaned over to Ron and tugged the hat out of his hands.**

**"You'll be wanting that," he said, "once Ireland have had their say."**

**"Huh?" said Ron, staring openmouthed at the veela, who had now lined up along one side of the field. **

Harry did snort.

**Hermione made a loud tutting noise. She reached up and pulled Harry back into his seat. "Honestly!" she said.**

"AAAAAAHHHHHHH!" Water was pouring on her head freezing cold and she was shivering in seconds.

"It's magic, not them being boys, you'd be the same if you met a male Veela." Gabriel snorted.

"No such thing." Hermione told her haughtily through chattering teeth as Molly fretted, dried her off and started casting warming charms.

"There is, great grand Father was one, they just 'ave more control." Fleur sniffed make Hermione look away.

**"And now," roared Ludo Bagman's voice, "kindly put your wands in the air. . . for the Irish National Team Mascots!"**

**Next moment, what seemed to be a great green-and-gold comet came zooming into the stadium. It did one circuit of the stadium, then split into two smaller comets, each hurtling toward the goal posts. A rainbow arced suddenly across the field, connecting the two balls of light. The crowd oooohed and aaaaahed, as though at a fireworks display. Now the rainbow faded and the balls of light reunited and merged; they had formed a great shimmering shamrock, which rose up into the sky and began to soar over the stands. Something like golden rain seemed to be falling from it - "Excellent!" yelled Ron as the shamrock soared over them, and heavy gold coins rained from it, bouncing off their heads and seats. **

"Got to love the little people." Seamus grinned to laughs and whoops.

**Squinting up at the shamrock, Harry realized that it was actually comprised of thousands of tiny little bearded men with red vests, each carrying a minute lamp of gold or green.**

**"Leprechauns!" said Mr. Weasley over the tumultuous applause of the crowd, many of whom were still fighting and rummaging around under their chairs to retrieve the gold.**

**"There you go," Ron yelled happily, stuffing a fistful of gold coins into Harry's hand, "for the Omnioculars! Now you've got to buy me a Christmas present, ha!" **

They gave the a look that said ;one word you die'.

**The great shamrock dissolved, the leprechauns drifted down onto the field on the opposite side from the veela, and settled themselves cross-legged to watch the match.**

**"And now, ladies and gentlemen, kindly welcome - the Bulgarian National Quidditch Team! I give you - Dimitrov!"**

**A scarlet-clad figure on a broomstick, moving so fast it was blurred, shot out onto the field from an entrance far below, to wild applause from the Bulgarian supporters.**

Which was of course echoed in the hall.

**"Ivanova!"**

**A**** second scarlet-robed player zoomed out.**

**"Zograf! Levski! Vulchanov! Volkov! Aaaaaaand - Krum!" **

That was three times louder than any of the others.

**"That's him, that's him!" yelled Ron, following Krum with his Omnioculars. Harry quickly focused his own.**

**Viktor Krum was thin, dark, and sallow-skinned, with a large curved nose and thick black eyebrows. He looked like an overgrown bird of prey. It was hard to believe he was only eighteen. **

And you had to consent to that if you'd seen him play.

**"And now, please greet - the Irish National Quidditch Team!" yelled Bagman. "Presenting - Connolly! Ryan! Troy! Mullet! Moran! Quigley! Aaaaaand - Lynch!"**

The roar for each player was equal to Krum's.

**Seven green blurs swept onto the field; Harry spun a small dial on the side of his Omnioculars and slowed the players down enough to read the word "Firebolt" on each of their brooms and see their names, embroidered in silver, upon their backs. **

Harry face palmed so Padfoot let out a bark of laughter.

"Shut up." Of course he just wagged his tail.

**"And here, all the way from Egypt, our referee, acclaimed Chairwizard of the International Association of Quidditch, Hassan Mostafa!"**

**A small and skinny wizard, completely bald but with a mustache to rival Uncle Vernon's, wearing robes of pure gold to match the stadium, strode out onto the field. A silver whistle was protruding from under the mustache, and he was carrying a large wooden crate under one arm, his broomstick under the other. Harry spun the speed dial on his Omnioculars back to normal, watching closely as Mostafa mounted his broomstick and kicked the crate open - four balls burst into the air: the scarlet Quaffle, the two black Bludgers, and (Harry saw it for the briefest moment, before it sped out of sight) the minuscule, winged Golden Snitch. **

People looked at him with wide eyes, even with Omnioculars that should be impossible.

**With a sharp blast on his whistle, Mostafa shot into the air after the balls.**

**"Theeeeeeeey're OFF!" screamed Bagman. "And it's Mullet! Troy! Moran! Dimitrov! Back to Mullet! Troy! Levski! Moran!"**

Lee kept real time and everyone was suddenly leaning forward, completely entrapped in it, the commentary making them feel like they were watching each second of it.

**It was Quidditch as Harry had never seen it played before. He was pressing his Omnioculars so hard to his glasses that they were cutting into the bridge of his nose. The speed of the players was incredible - the Chasers were throwing the Quaffle to one another so fast that Bagman only had time to say their names. Harry spun the slow dial on the right of his Omnioculars again, pressed the play- by-play button on the top, and he was immediately watching in slow motion, while glittering purple lettering flashed across the lenses and the noise of the crowd pounded against his eardrums. **

The hall was buzzing with excitement and piecing everything together, creating the image of the great stadium in their head.

**HAWKSHEAD ATTACKING FORMATION, he read as he watched the three Irish Chasers zoom closely together, Troy in the center, slightly ahead of Mullet and Moran, bearing down upon the Bulgarians. PORSKOFF PLOY flashed up next, as Troy made as though to dart upward with the Quaffle, drawing away the Bulgarian Chaser Ivanova and dropping the Quaffle to Moran. One of the Bulgarian Beaters, Volkov, swung hard at a passing Bludger with his small club, knocking it into Moran's path; Moran ducked to avoid the Bludger and dropped the Quaffle; and Levski, soaring beneath, caught it - "TROY SCORES!" roared Bagman, and the stadium shuddered with a roar of applause and cheers. "Ten zero to Ireland!"**

**"What?" Harry yelled, looking wildly around through his Omnioculars. "But Levski's got the Quaffle!" **

"Laugh it up Pads, laugh it up." He grumbled to the dog who just barked with mirth.

**"Harry, if you're not going to watch at normal speed, you're going to miss things!" shouted Hermione, who was dancing up and down, waving her arms in the air while Troy did a lap of honor around the field. Harry looked quickly over the top of his Omnioculars and saw that the leprechauns watching from the sidelines had all risen into the air again and formed the great, glittering shamrock. Across the field, the veela were watching them sulkily. **

Harry couldn't help but smile at that.

**Furious with himself, Harry spun his speed dial back to normal as play resumed.**

**Harry knew enough about Quidditch to see that the Irish Chasers were superb. They worked as a seamless team, their movements so well coordinated that they appeared to be reading one another's minds as they positioned themselves,**

"We're so lucky Wood didn't come back, he'd try to get us playing like that." Katie sighed.

"I think you could if you practiced as much as them, but you have to remember they do that all day six days a week, seven sometimes." The three Chasers flushed at Remus words but smiled brightly.

**and the rosette on Harry's chest kept squeaking their names: "Troy - Mullet - Mo ran!" And within ten minutes, Ireland scored twice more, bringing their lead to thirty-zero and causing a thunderous tide of roars and applause from the green- clad supporters. **

And the hall was doing a good impression of it, even the Bulgaria supporter was cheering appreciatively.

**The match became still faster, but more brutal. Volkov and Vulchanov, the Bulgarian Beaters, were whacking the Bludgers as fiercely as possible at the Irish Chasers, and were starting to prevent them from using some of their best moves; twice they were forced to scatter, and then, finally, Ivanova managed to break through their ranks; dodge the Keeper, Ryan; and score Bulgaria's first goal. **

The hall cheered again it wasn't as loud but it was there.

**"Fingers in your ears!" bellowed Mr. Weasley as the veela started to dance in celebration. Harry screwed up his eyes too; he wanted to keep his mind on the game. After a few seconds, he chanced a glance at the field. The veela had stopped dancing, and Bulgaria was again in possession of the Quaffle.**

**"Dimitrov! Levski! Dimitrov! Ivanova - oh I say!" roared Bagman. **

People leaned further forward and were bouncing their feet in anticipation.

**One hundred thousand wizards gasped as the two Seekers, Krum and Lynch, plummeted through the center of the Chasers, so fast that it looked as though they had just jumped from airplanes without parachutes. Harry followed their descent through his Omnioculars, squinting to see where the Snitch was - **

**"They're going to crash!" screamed Hermione next to Harry.**

**She was half right - at the very last second, Viktor Krum pulled out of the dive and spiraled off. Lynch, however, hit the ground with a dull thud that could be heard throughout the stadium. A huge groan rose from the Irish seats. **

That was echoed once again while Gabriel laughed her head off.

**"Fool!" moaned Mr. Weasley. "Krum was feinting!"**

**"It's time-out!" yelled Bagman's voice, "as trained mediwizards hurry onto the field to examine Aidan Lynch!"**

**"He'll be okay, he only got ploughed!" Charlie said reassuringly to Ginny, who was hanging over the side of the box, looking horror-struck. "Which is what Krum was after, of course... ."**

"And I thought you wanted to lay professional." Cho smirked from the Ravenclaw table. The small red head glared at her.

**Harry hastily pressed the replay and play-by-play buttons on his Omnioculars, twiddled the speed dial, and put them back up to his eyes.**

**He watched as Krum and Lynch dived again in slow motion. WRONSKI DEFENSIVE FEINT - DANGEROUS SEEKER DIVERSION read the shining purple lettering across his lenses. He saw Krum's face contorted with concentration as he pulled out of the dive just in time, while Lynch was flattened, and he understood - Krum hadn't seen the Snitch at all, he was just making Lynch copy him. Harry had never seen anyone fly like that; Krum hardly looked as though he was using a broomstick at all; he moved so easily through the air that he looked unsupported and weightless. **

"That's how you look." Everyone of the Gryffindor team minus Ron told him, Ron was to busy sulking. Of course Harry flushed brightly and hid between the twins.

**Harry turned his Omnioculars back to normal and focused them on Krum. He was now circling high above Lynch, who was being revived by mediwizards with cups of potion. Harry, focusing still more closely upon Krum's face, saw his dark eyes darting all over the ground a hundred feet below. He was using the time while Lynch was revived to look for the Snitch without interference.**

"What?" He asked because everyone was staring at him and the twins galred at them.

"Why the hell were you looking at Krum, not the game?" The eldest Greengrass asked.

"Because I could here what was going on in the game, what was important was seeing his reaction, I am seeker remember."

"Not anymore Mr Potter." Umbridge smiled smugly and Amelia gave her a look that Umbitch wouldn't have liked one bit.

**Lynch got to his feet at last, to loud cheers from the green-clad supporters, mounted his Firebolt, and kicked back off into the air. His revival seemed to give Ireland new heart. When Mostafa blew his whistle again, the Chasers moved into action with a skill unrivaled by anything Harry had seen so far.**

**After fifteen more fast and furious minutes, Ireland had pulled ahead by ten more goals. They were now leading by one hundred and thirty points to ten, and the game was starting to get dirtier. **

Lee's voice was still in commentary mode but his pace was getting faster and excitement level was rising.

**As Mullet shot toward the goal posts yemt again, clutching the Quaffle tightly under her arm, the Bulgarian Keeper, Zograf, flew out to meet her. Whatever happened was over so quickly Harry didn't catch it, but a scream of rage from the Irish crowd, and Mostafa's long, shrill whistle blast, told him it had been a foul.**

**"And Mostafa takes the Bulgarian Keeper to task for cobbing - excessive use of elbows!" Bagman informed the roaring spectators. "And - yes, it's a penalty to Ireland!" **

Cheers of course.

**The leprechauns, who had risen angrily into the air like a swarm of glittering hornets when Mullet had been fouled, now darted together to form the words "HA, HA, HA!" The veela on the other side of the field leapt to their feet, tossed their hair angrily, and started to dance again. **

People who remembered were laughing.

**As one, the Weasley boys and Harry stuffed their fingers into their ears, but Hermione, who hadn't bothered, was soon tugging on Harry's arm. He turned to look at her, and she pulled his fingers impatiently out of his ears.**

**"Look at the referee!" she said, giggling.**

**Harry looked down at the field. Hassan Mostafa had landed right in front of the dancing veela, and was acting very oddly indeed. He was flexing his muscles and smoothing his mustache excitedly. **

They were falling into laughter together and they couldn't help it.

**"Now, we can't have that!" said Ludo Bagman, though he sounded highly amused. "Somebody slap the referee!"**

**A mediwizard came tearing across the field, his fingers stuffed into his own ears, and kicked Mostafa hard in the shins. Mostafa seemed to come to himself; Harry, watching through the Omnioculars again, saw that he looked exceptionally embarrassed and had started shouting at the veela, who had stopped dancing and were looking mutinous. **

"Never piss off Veela, they are vicious." Gabriel laughed.

**"And unless I'm much mistaken, Mostafa is actually attempting to send off the Bulgarian team mascots!" said Bagman's voice. "Now there's something we haven't seen before. . . . Oh this could turn nasty. . . **

People were smirking, that was a historic moment alright.

**It did: The Bulgarian Beaters, Volkov and Vulchanov, landed on either side of Mostafa and began arguing furiously with him, gesticulating toward the leprechauns, who had now gleefully formed the words "HEE, HEE, HEE." Mostafa was not impressed by the Bulgarians' arguments, however; he was jabbing his finger into the air, clearly telling them to get flying again, and when they refused, he gave two short blasts on his whistle. **

"And that is why you never piss off the ref." A Slytherin reserve Chaser, who was actually good, sighed, shaking his head thinking of his own house team.

**"Two penalties for Ireland!" shouted Bagman, and the Bulgarian crowd howled with anger. "And Volkov and Vulchanov had better get back on those brooms. . . yes. . . there they go. . . and Troy takes the Quaffle. .**

**Play now reached a level of ferocity beyond anything they had yet seen. The Beaters on both sides were acting without mercy: Volkov and Vulchanov in particular seemed not to care whether their clubs made contact with Bludger or human as they swung them violently through the air. Dimitrov shot straight at Moran, who had the Quaffle, nearly knocking her off her broom. **

**"Foul!" roared the Irish supporters as one, all standing up in a great wave of green. **

"We really did have the best seats." Ron said looking up dreamily.

**"Foul!" echoed Ludo Bagman's magically magnified voice. "Dimitrov skins Moran - deliberately flying to collide there - it's got to be another penalty - yes, there's the whistle!" **

**The leprechauns had risen into the air again, and this time, they formed a giant hand, which was making a very rude sign indeed at the veela across the field. **

**At this, the veela lost control. Instead of dancing, they launched themselves across the field and began throwing what seemed to be handfuls of fire at the leprechauns. **

Some people laughed, some sniffed indignantly, other were indifferent.

**Watching through his Omnioculars, Harry saw that they didn't look remotely beautiful now. On the contrary, their faces were elongating into sharp, cruel- beaked bird heads, and long, scaly wings were bursting from their shoulders - **

Eyes widened in shock and people looked at Fleur who point blank ignored them.

**"And that, boys," yelled Mr. Weasley over the tumult of the crowd below, "is why you should never go for looks alone!" **

"You never know what's inside." Arthur tacked on.

**Ministry wizards were flooding onto the field to separate the veela and the leprechauns, but with little success; meanwhile, the pitched battle below was nothing to the one taking place above. Harry turned this way and that, staring through his Omnioculars, as the Quaffie changed hands with the speed of a bullet.**

**"Levski - Dimitrov - Moran - Troy - Mullet - Ivanova - Moran again - Moran - MORAN SCORES!" **

Cheers and roars echoed out.

**But the cheers of the Irish supporters were barely heard over the shrieks of the veela, the blasts now issuing from the Ministry members' wands, and the furious roars of the Bulgarians. The game recommenced immediately; now Levski had the Quaffle, now Dimitrov -**

**The Irish Beater Quigley swung heavily at a passing Bludger, and hit it as hard as possible toward Krum, who did not duck quickly enough. It hit him full in the face. **

All the Quidditch players winced sympathetically.

**There was a deafening groan from the crowd; Krum's nose looked broken, there was blood everywhere, but Hassan Mostafa didn't blow his whistle. He had become distracted, and Harry couldn't blame him; one of the veela had thrown a handful of fire and set his broom tail alight. **

Now everyone winced, a broom on fire was not good.

**Harry wanted someone to realize that Krum was injured; even though he was supporting Ireland, Krum was the most exciting player on the field. Ron obviously felt the same.**

**"Time-out! Ah, come on, he can't play like that, look at him -" "Look at Lynch!" Harry yelled. **

**For the Irish Seeker had suddenly gone into a dive, and Harry was quite sure that this was no Wronski Feint; this was the real thing... **

"How the hell could you tell?" Terry Boot asked genuinely curious.

"You just get good at reading other players."

**"He's seen the Snitch!" Harry shouted. "He's seen it! Look at him go!"**

**Half the crowd seemed to have realized what was happening; the Irish supporters rose in another great wave of green, screaming their Seeker on. . . but Krum was on his tail. How he could see where he was going, Harry had no idea; there were flecks of blood flying through the air behind him, **

"Gross!" Lavender whined.

"Necessary." The Quidditch players corrected, well the ones who gave everything in their games, they'd do the same.

**but he was drawing level with Lynch now as the pair of them hurtled toward the ground again -**

**"They're going to crash!" shrieked Hermione.**

**"They're not!" roared Ron.**

**"Lynch is!" yelled Harry. **

**And he was right - for the second time, Lynch hit the ground with tremendous force and was immediately stampeded by a horde of angry veela. **

"Ouch!" That was what fell from peoples lips and they agreed, Veela were vicious.

**"The Snitch, where's the Snitch?" bellowed Charlie, along the row.**

**"He's got it - Krum's got it - it's all over!" shouted Harry.**

**Krum, his red robes shining with blood from his nose, was rising gently into the air, his fist held high, a glint of gold in his hand. **

There was a roar that only increased as Lee read further.

**The scoreboard was flashing BULGARIA: 160, IRELAND: 170 across the crowd, who didn't seem to have realized what had happened. Then, slowly, as though a great jumbo jet were revving up, the rumbling from the Ireland supporters grew louder and louder and erupted into screams of delight.**

**"IRELAND WINS!" Bagman shouted, who like the Irish, seemed to be taken aback by the sudden end of the match.**

**"KRUM GETS THE SNITCH - BUT IRELAND WINS - good lord, I don't think any of us were expecting that!" **

"The twins did. You must have gotten a fortune for that bet." Susan thought absently and people were surprised by the dark looks that crossed the twins features.

**"What did he catch the Snitch for?" Ron bellowed, even as he jumped up and down, applauding with his hands over his head. "He ended it when Ireland were a hundred and sixty points ahead, the idiot!"**

**"He knew they were never going to catch up!" Harry shouted back over all the noise, also applauding loudly. "The Irish Chasers were too good. . . . He wanted to end it on his terms, that's all. . . **

"What part of, I'm a Seeker, does nobody get." They flushed and looked away from Harry while Umbridge cleared her throat annoyingly.

**"He was very brave, wasn't he?" Hermione said, leaning forward to watch Krum land as a swarm of mediwizards blasted a path through the battling leprechauns and veela to get to him. "He looks a terrible mess. . ."**

**Harry put his Omnioculars to his eyes again. It was hard to see what was happening below, because leprechauns were zooming delightedly all over the field, but he could just make out Krum, surrounded by mediwizards. He looked surlier than ever and refused to let them mop him up.**

"Probably to upset to care." Angelina mused.

**His team members were around him, shaking their heads and looking dejected; a short way away, the Irish players were dancing gleefully in a shower of gold descending from their mascots. Flags were waving all over the stadium, the Irish national anthem blared from all sides; the veela were shrinking back into their usual, beautiful selves now, though looking dispirited and forlorn. **

"Where are Veela actually from?" Ashton asked.

"The Balkans but we moved through all of Europe over time." fleur informed and the Hufflepuff sent her a beaming smile.

**"Vell, ve fought bravely," said a gloomy voice behind Harry. He looked around; it was the Bulgarian Minister of Magic.**

**"You can speak English!" said Fudge, sounding outraged. "And you've been letting me mime everything all day!"**

**"Veil, it vos very funny," said the Bulgarian minister, shrugging. **

The hall, especially the DA fell into laughter as Fudge turned scarlet.

**"And as the Irish team performs a lap of honor, flanked by their mascots, the Quidditch World Cup itself is brought into the Top Box!" roared Bagman.**

**Harry's eyes were suddenly dazzled by a blinding white light, as the Top Box was magically illuminated so that everyone in the stands could see the inside. Squinting toward the entrance, he saw two panting wizards carrying a vast golden cup into the box, which they handed to Cornelius Fudge, who was still looking very disgruntled that he'd been using sign language all day for nothing.**

And people were beginning to choke on their laughter.

**"Let's have a really loud hand for the gallant losers - Bulgaria!" Bagman shouted.**

**And up the stairs into the box came the seven defeated Bulgarian players. The crowd below was applauding appreciatively; Harry could see thousands and thousands of Omniocular lenses flashing and winking in their direction. **

"Wait, you were in the same box as them?" Someone cried and they nodded.

**One by one, the Bulgarians filed between the rows of seats in the box, and Bagman called out the name of each as they shook hands with their own minister and then with Fudge. Krum, who was last in line, looked a real mess. Two black eyes were blooming spectacularly on his bloody face. He was still holding the Snitch. Harry noticed that he seemed much less coordinated on the ground. He was slightly duck-footed and distinctly round-shouldered. But when Krum's name was announced, the whole stadium gave him a resounding, earsplitting roar. **

The broke into applause without and thought, a few whoops and cheers going through it.

**And then came the Irish team. Aidan Lynch was being supported by Moran and Connolly; the second crash seemed to have dazed him and his eyes looked strangely unfocused. But he grinned happily as Troy and Quigley lifted the Cup into the air and the crowd below thundered its approval. Harry's hands were numb with clapping. **

As were quiet a few peoples in the hall.

**At last, when the Irish team had left the box to perform another lap of honor on their brooms (Aidan Lynch on the back of Confolly's, clutching hard around his waist and still grinning in a bemused sort of way), **

"Did you know those two were caught sleeping together, it was all over Witch Weekly." Lavender said none to quietly.

"So what if they were, give it a rest."

Bagman** pointed his wand at his throat and uttered, "Quietus." **

**"They'll be talking about this one for years," he said hoarsely, "a really unexpected twist, that. . . . shame it couldn't have lasted longer. . . . Ah yes... . yes, I owe you. . . how much?" **

**For Fred and George had just scrambled over the backs of their seats and were standing in front of Ludo Bagman with broad grins on their faces, their hands outstretched. **

They held back a growl as Lee announced the end of the chapter and the end of reading for the night.


	7. Classes and a Kiss

The next day Divination was hilarious. Harry had gone up and when Padfoot had walked in Trelawney had screamed and keeled over backwards in a dead faint that had most of the class roaring and Harry fussing over the Grim who wasn't complaining in the slightest.

When they went to Transfiguration McGonagall gave a look that clearly said don't cause trouble to the dog who whined and lay down obediently next to the teachers desk, to remain there for the rest of the lesson.

Harry scratched his head before walking to the back of the class and sitting down and was a little surprised but pleased when the person who took the seat next to him wasn't a lanky red-head or bushy hair Gryffindor. Instead of either of those it was a particular blond Slytherin.

Theo smiled at him and they both sat back, their hands linked under the table by a mutual and silent agreement that had no conscious thought.

They unfortunately had to let go when they got onto the practical which Harry got first try, not bothering with letting Hermione be first for once but he was surprised when she turned around and grinned at him while Ron look furious at his so called best mate.

And then it was lunch. Emerald and blue locked and once again the decision was barely conscious as they walked out to the lake and from view of prying eyes they sat down next to each other.

It was weird but only because it seemed so natural to be together, to talk, to sit, they started to lose track of time and didn't notice when lunch finished. They just sat out there, talking, smiling, laughing. For the first time in ages they both felt light and free without the worries of war and duty.

At some point Theo caught sight of Harry's watch and grabbed the Gryffindor's wrist, eyes widening in shock and mouth dropping, Harry's eyebrows went to his hair line as they realised it was nearly dinner time but he felt heat rushing to his cheeks when he realised how close he was to the blond.

From here he could make out the small and faint freckles on the smooth skin and he found it rather inciting as his eyes counted each one.

He acted on impulse as he often did and leaned forward to capture plump lips that moulded to his perfectly.

A gentle hand brushed against his cheek and the subtle pressure was increased slightly, nice, simple and there was this incredible spark that ran between them, sending shivers down their spines.

They both felt the urge to deepen the kiss but neither wanted to break what felt like a perfect moment and was in their eyes.

They only moved apart when someone shouted near by and Harry let head his whip around to see the girl, Gabriel walking over.

"You know boys, the professors aren't very happy with you." She grinned brightly and they blushed. "Tut, tut, tut, missing school since lunch then being found kissing by the lake, luckily for you I also missed those lessons along with several others so your not in to hot water but I think Umbridge may explode."

A dreamy look crossed her cherubic face and Harry laughed while Theo grinned perfectly.

"Anyway, Padfoot wants you." She pointed at Harry. "Blaise wants you." Theo obviously. "And everyone wants to read about Harry's life like he isn't actually a real person and you can't miss another meal so me boys, move ya buts."

And she turned and started jogging back to the castle.

Harry couldn't help smile, their was something about that girl that made him think of a bubbly older sister but something also told him that she had a darker streak, like if you hurt the people she cares about she'd rip your throat out with her teeth, he also had the idea of her embalming someone alive and he didn't know why.

A shiver of Horror and revulsion ran down his spine at the thought and Theo gave him a concerned look, reaching out to grip his hand gently and giving a small squeeze.

He regrettably let go as they walked after the Novak and people, as per usual where Harry was involved, stopped to look at the two of them, Cho, Ginny and Pansy glaring in their direction, all three suddenly getting water dropped on their heads and a guffaw sound from a certain honey haired Slytherin.


	8. The Dark Mark

**CHAPTER NINE - THE DARK MARK **Professor Burbage had the book and a shiver ran through the room at the word.

**"Don't tell your mother you've been gambling," Mr. Weasley implored Fred and George as they all made their way slowly down the purple-carpeted stairs. **

**"Don't worry, Dad," said Fred gleefully, "we've got big plans for this money. We don't want it confiscated."**

**Mr. Weasley looked for a moment as though he was going to ask what these big plans were, but seemed to decide, upon reflection, that he didn't want to know. **

"Arthur! How can you keep letting them get away with this! What else have you let them do behind my back?" Molly screeched.

"Shut up before I let you be mauled by a wolf." Gabriel snapped and rubbed her forehead.

**They were soon caught up in the crowds now flooding out of the stadium and back to their campsites. Raucous singing was borne toward them on the night air as they retraced their steps along the lantern-lit path, and leprechauns kept shooting over their heads, cackling and waving their lanterns. When they finally reached the tents, nobody felt like sleeping at all, and given the level of noise around them, Mr. Weasley agreed that they could all have one last cup of cocoa together before turning in. **

"Arthur!"

"Enough Molly, there was no point sending them to bed when they couldn't settle." The head of the Weasley family glanced a look at the Slytherin girl and was concerned she might go through with that threat.

**They were soon arguing enjoyably about the match; Mr. Weasley got drawn into a disagreement about cobbing with Charlie, and it was only when Ginny fell asleep right at the tiny table and spilled hot chocolate all over the floor that Mr. Weasley called a halt to the verbal replays and insisted that everyone go to bed. **

Some of the people started snickering quietly to each other but it wasn't unkind.

**Hermione and Ginny went into the next tent, and Harry and the rest of the Weasleys changed into pajamas and clambered into their bunks. From the other side of the campsite they could still hear much singing and the odd echoing bang.**

**"Oh I am glad I'm not on duty," muttered Mr. Weasley sleepily. "I wouldn't fancy having to go and tell the Irish they've got to stop celebrating." **

Lots of people laughed at that, trying to relax as much as possible before the rest of the chapter.

**Harry, who was on a top bunk above Ron, lay staring up at the canvas ceiling of the tent, watching the glow of an occasional leprechaun lantern flying overhead, and picturing again some of Krum's more spectacular moves. He was itching to get back on his own Firebolt and try out the Wronski Feint. . . . **

"Of course." The three Chasers sighed, resigned to seeing Harry preforming death defying stunts, luckily dives were his speciality.

**Somehow Oliver Wood had never managed to ****convey with all his wriggling diagrams what that move was supposed to look like.. . . **

"Yeah, it's something you have to see to be able to do." Charlie agreed.

**Harry saw himself in robes that had his name on the back, and imagined the sensation of hearing a hundred-thousand-strong crowd roar, as Ludo Bagman's voice echoed throughout the stadium, "I give you. . . Potter!" **

Snape sneered while Harry blushed and sunk down next to George who laughed from his place between him and Charlie.

**Harry never knew whether or not he had actually dropped off to sleep - his fantasies of flying like Krum might well have slipped into actual dreams - all he knew was that, quite suddenly, Mr. Weasley was shouting.**

**"Get up! Ron - Harry - come on now, get up, this is urgent!" **

The atmosphere in the hall suddenly plummeted as almost everyone tensed.

**Harry sat up quickly and the top of his head hit canvas.**

**"S' matter?" he said.**

**Dimly, he could tell that something was wrong. The noises in the campsite had changed. **

"You should learn to wake up better lad." Moody grunted as the familiar clop of his filled the hall.

Harry stood and walked over to the ageing auror.

"Why did you stop calling me boy?" The young Ravenette made sure no one could hear them but he had his wand primed just incase.

"Because you flinched from it. That's a good lad."

"Thanks Mad-eye, and I'm better now."

"Good, Minister, Madam Bones, my apologies for not being here sooner, I had things to deal with." The older man grubbed and stomped to sit beside the Weasleys, his magical eye swirling at an alarming rate.

**The singing had stopped. He could hear screams, and the sound of people running. He slipped down from the bunk and reached for his clothes, but Mr. Weasley, who had pulled on his jeans over his own pajamas, said, "No time, Harry - just grab a jacket and get outside - quickly!" **

The hall was as tense as a jack in the box.

**Harry did as he was told and hurried out of the tent, Ron at his heels. **

**By the light of the few fires that were still burning, he could see people running away into the woods, fleeing something that was moving across the field toward them, something that was emitting odd flashes of light and noises like gunfire. Loud jeering, roars of laughter, and drunken yells were drifting toward them; then came a burst of strong green light, **

The elder and more educated gulped harshly.

"They were imitations, nothing more than stunners designed to look like that." And a collective breath was taken at Madam Bones' words.

**which illuminated the scene.**

**A crowd of wizards, tightly packed and moving together with wands pointing straight upward, was marching slowly across the field. Harry squinted at them. . . . They didn't seem to have faces. . . . Then he realized that their heads were hooded and their faces masked. **

"Why do they use masks and not concealment charms?" Susan suddenly mused and Gabriel demonstrated the difference between the two and they shivered when the silver mask appeared.

"Intimidation is always a key weapon in war." She smirked but their was a sad light to her eyes.

**High above them, floating along in midair, four struggling figures were being contorted into grotesque shapes. It was as though the masked wizards on the ground were puppeteers, and the people above them were marionettes operated by invisible strings that rose from the wands into the air. **

People felt sick and Harry hated his imagination.

**Two of the figures were very small. More wizards were joining the marching group, laughing and pointing up at the floating bodies. Tents crumpled and fell as the marching crowd swelled. Once or twice Harry saw one of the marchers blast a tent out of his way with his wand. Several caught fire. The screaming grew louder. **

If you listened very closely you could hear a few small whimpers though from whom none could tell you.

**The floating people were suddenly illuminated as they passed over a burning tent and Harry recognized one of them: Mr. Roberts, the campsite manager. The other three looked as though they might be his wife and children. One of the marchers below flipped Mrs. Roberts upside down with his wand; her nightdress fell down to reveal voluminous drawers and she struggled to cover herself up as the crowd below her screeched and hooted with glee. **

The snarl that ripped from Gabriel's throat at the Slytherin table and quiet a few of her classmates glared at her only to flinch away from glowing golden eyes.

**"That's sick," Ron muttered, watching the smallest Muggle child, who had begun to spin like a top, sixty feet above the ground, his head flopping limply from side to side. "That is really sick…" **

**Hermione and Ginny came hurrying toward them, pulling coats over their nightdresses, with Mr. Weasley right behind them. At the same moment, Bill, Charlie, and Percy emerged from the boys' tent, fully dressed, with their sleeves rolled up and their wands** **out. **

**"We're going to help the Ministry!" Mr. Weasley shouted over all the noise, rolling up his own sleeves. "You lot - get into the woods, and stick together. I'll come and fetch you when we've sorted this out!" **

"Wait! You left six teenagers to take care of them selves, not one of you thought to stay behind." Sprout said slightly outraged.

All four of the elder Weasley males blushed brightly.

**Bill, Charlie, and Percy were already sprinting away toward the oncoming marchers; Mr. Weasley tore after them. Ministry wizards were dashing from every direction toward the source of the trouble. The crowd beneath the Roberts family was coming ever closer. **

Harry made sure he was between the twins and could glance up to see Theo, who he couldn't seem to take his eyes off for more than a minute or so.

**"C'mon," said Fred, grabbing Ginny's hand and starting to pull her toward the wood. Harry, Ron, Hermione, and George followed. **

That was something that Harry smiled about, one of the differences, Fred was far more a leader than his brother, something others rarely realised.

**They all looked back as they reached the trees. The crowd beneath the Roberts family was larger than ever; they could see the Ministry wizards trying to get through it to the hooded wizards in the center, but they were having great difficulty. It looked as though they were scared to perform any spell that might make the Roberts family fall. **

"Not hard to guess." Smith, again.

"Shut up!" Michael snapped and was glared at for having his arm around Anthony, he just pulled the other boy closer to him.

**The colored lanterns that had lit the path to the stadium had been extinguished. Dark figures were blundering through the trees; children were crying; anxious shouts and panicked voices were reverberating around them in the cold night air. **

"Make it stop." Dennis whined and a few other wanted to, but couldn't, voice their opinion.

**Harry felt himself being pushed hither and thither by people whose faces he could not see. Then he heard Ron yell with pain. **

**"What happened?" said Hermione anxiously, stopping so abruptly that Harry walked into her. "Ron, where are you? Oh this is stupid - lumos!" **

"That is illegal." Umbridge smirked.

"And justified." Amelia cut her off.

**She illuminated her wand and directed its narrow beam across the path. Ron was lying sprawled on the ground. **

**"Tripped over a tree root," he said angrily, getting to his feet again. **

**"Well, with feet that size, hard not to," said a drawling voice from behind them. **

Draco internally grimaced but kept a cool facade.

**Harry, Ron, and Hermione turned sharply. Draco Malfoy was standing alone nearby, leaning against a tree, looking utterly relaxed. His arms folded, he seemed to have been watching the scene at the campsite through a gap in the trees. Ron told Malfoy to do something that Harry knew he would never have dared say in front of Mrs. Weasley. **

The red-head blushed and refused to look towards his mother.

**"Language, Weasley," said Malfoy, his pale eyes glittering. "Hadn't you better be hurrying along, now? You wouldn't like her spotted, would you?" **

**He nodded at Hermione, and at the same moment, a blast like a bomb sounded from the campsite, and a flash of green light momentarily lit the trees around them. **

Harry flinched and felt the twins move closer to him and held him gently.

**"What's that supposed to mean?" said Hermione defiantly. **

**"Granger, they're after Muggles," said Malfoy. "D'you want to be showing off your knickers in midair? Because if you do, hang around… they're moving this way, and it would give us all ****a laugh." **

**"Hermione's a witch," Harry snarled. **

People roared their agreement but Harry was to busy thinking.

**"Have it your own way, Potter," said Malfoy, grinning maliciously. "If you think they can't spot a Mudblood, stay where you are." **

Something suddenly clicked, that wasn't a threat, that was a warning and he looked up, green eyes catching grey, thanking them with just a look and pale lips moved up at the corners ever so slightly.

**"You watch your mouth!" shouted Ron. Everybody present knew that "Mudblood" was a very offensive term for a witch or wizard of Muggle parentage. **

"Very offensive is putting it mildly." McGonagall sniffed.

"Only because people let it be." Ashton muttered. "If people didn't let themselves see at as being so offensive it wouldn't be."

**"Never mind, Ron," said Hermione quickly, seizing Ron's arm to restrain him as he took a step toward Malfoy. There came a bang from the other side of the trees that was louder than anything ****they had heard several people nearby screamed. Malfoy chuckled softly.**

**"Scare easily, don't they?" he said lazily. **

"Well they do." Gabriel chuckled and Harry saw it again, like she was darker then anyone could ever imagine.

**"I suppose your daddy told you all to hide? What's he up to - trying to rescue the Muggles?" **

**"Where're your parents?" said Harry, his temper rising. "Out there wearing masks, are they?" **

**Malfoy turned his face to Harry, still smiling. **

The Malfoy didn't look at anyone but also had an air of not caring to him.

**"Well… if they were, I wouldn't be likely to tell you, would I, Potter?" **

**"Oh come on," said Hermione, with a disgusted look at Malfoy, "let's go and find the others." **

**"Keep that big bushy head down, Granger," sneered Malfoy. **

**"Come on," Hermione repeated, and she pulled Harry and Ron up the path again. **

**"I'll bet you anything his dad is one of that masked lot!" said Ron hotly. **

"You really need to work on your temper." Susan pointed out and Ron almost proved her point in the next few seconds.

**"Well, with any luck, the Ministry will catch him!" said Hermione fervently. "Oh I can't believe this. Where have the others got to?" **

**Fred, George, and Ginny were nowhere to be seen, though the path was packed with plenty of other people, all looking nervously over their shoulders toward the commotion back at the campsite. A huddle of teenagers in pajamas was arguing vociferously a little way along the path. **

"Don't they know it's best to stay calm." Angelina sighed.'

**When they saw Harry, Ron, and Hermione, a girl with thick curly hair turned and said quickly, **

**"Oü est Madame Maxime? Nous l'avons perdue -" **

**"Er - what?" said Ron. **

**"Oh…" The girl who had spoken turned her back on him, and as they walked on they distinctly heard her say, "Ogwarts." **

**"Beauxbatons," muttered Hermione. **

"You say that as if it is a bad thing." Fleur commented and Hermione blushed brightly.

**"Sorry?" said Harry. **

**"They must go to Beauxbatons," said Hermione. "You know… Beauxbatons Academy of Magic… I read about it in An Appraisal of Magical Education in Europe." **

**"Oh… yeah… right," said Harry. **

"You really love making sure others know you're smarter than them." Luna mused with a smile and people either let their jaws drop or laughed. "Oh i'm sure you don't mean to, you just can't help yourself."

Hermione was, predictably, speechless.

**"Fred and George can't have gone that far," said Ron, pulling out his wand, lighting it like Hermione's, and squinting up the path. Harry dug in the pockets of his jacket for ****his own wand - but it wasn't there. The only thing he could find was his Omnioculars. **

"Shit." Blaise Zabini muttered under his breath and Theo nodded, a prickle of worry settling in his stomach.

"Boy, you need a wand holster, not keep it in ya pocket." Moody growled and Harry nodded.

**"Ah, no, I don't believe it… I've lost my wand!" **

**"You're kidding!" **

**Ron and Hermione raised their wands high enough to spread the narrow beams of light farther on the ground; Harry looked all around him, but his wand was nowhere to be seen. **

**"Maybe it's back in the tent," said Ron. **

**"Maybe it fell out of your pocket when we were running?" Hermione suggested anxiously. **

**"Yeah," said Harry, "maybe…" **

The twins squeezed him and Padfoot rested at his feet to give what comfort he could.

**He usually kept his wand with him at all times in the wizarding world, and finding himself without it in the midst of a scene like this made him feel very vulnerable. **

The twins weren't hiding anything and hugged him close to themselves and Harry was thankful for it, honestly he craved affection but he never received it and, thanks to a lack of it, wasn't very good at giving it.

**A rustling noise nearby made all three of them jump. Winky the house-elf was fighting her way out of a clump of bushes nearby. She was moving in a most peculiar fashion, apparently with great difficulty; it was as though someone invisible were trying to hold her back. **

Harry grimaced, he'd been right.

**"There is bad wizards about!" she squeaked distractedly as she leaned forward and labored to keep running. "People high - high in the air! Winky is getting out of the way!" **

**And she disappeared into the trees on the other side of the path, panting and squeaking as she fought the force that was restraining her. **

"Poor thing." Pavarti and Padma sighed in time and grinned at each other, it had been a while since they'd done that.

**"What's up with her?" said Ron, looking curiously after Winky. "Why can't she run properly?" **

**"Bet she didn't ask permission to hide," said Harry. He was thinking of Dobby: Every time he had tried to do something the Malfoys wouldn't like, the house-elf had been forced to start beating himself up. **

Harry winced, he hated seeing robby do that, he knew how it felt.

**"You know, house-elves get a very raw deal!" said Hermione indignantly. "It's slavery, that's what it is! That Mr. Crouch made her go up to the top of the stadium, and she was terrified, and he's got her bewitched so she can't even run when they start trampling tents! Why doesn't anyone do something about it?" **

"Because it's what they were created for, it's what they live for and there's no changing that." Flitwick explained and Hermione took it in but still thought there was something she could do.

**"Well, the elves are happy, aren't they?" Ron said. "You heard old Winky back at the match… 'House-elves is not supposed to have fun'… that's what she likes, being bossed around…" **

**"It's people like you, Ron," Hermione began hotly, "who prop up rotten and unjust systems, just because they're too lazy to -" **

"Those two shouldn't be within a hundred feet of each other." Terry muttered and his friend laughed when Ginny leaned towards them from the chair she was sat on.

"Michael why don't you come sit with me?" She all but bloody simpered and it wasn't pleasant.

"I just thought I'd hang out with my friends and your with your family anyway." He replied curtly and didn't notice her glare at where his arm was wrapped around Anthony. The rumour mill had slow down with these book but still, it made her look bad and she couldn't have that.

**Another loud bang echoed from the edge of the wood. **

**"Let's just keep moving, shall we?" said Ron, and Harry saw him glance edgily at Hermione. Perhaps there was truth in what Malfoy had said; perhaps Hermione was in more danger than they were. They set off again, Harry still searching his pockets, even though he knew his wand wasn't there. **

**They followed the dark path deeper into the wood, still keeping an eye out for Fred, George, and Ginny. They passed a group of goblins who were cackling over a sack of gold that they had undoubtedly won betting on the match, and who seemed quite unperturbed by the trouble at the campsite. **

"It's goblins, they'll probably win." Bill smirked and almost, almost shrieked when Charlie grabbed his side.

**Farther still along the path, they walked into a patch of silvery light, and when they looked through the trees, they saw three tall and beautiful veela standing in a clearing, surrounded by a gaggle of young wizards, all of whom were talking very loudly. **

**"I pull down about a hundred sacks of Galleons a year!" one of them shouted. "I'm a dragon killer for the Committee for the Disposal of Dangerous Creatures." **

Charlie just about hissed to his brothers amusement as Bill slung an arm around him and pulled him closer.

**"No, you're not!" yelled his friend. "You're a dishwasher at the Leaky Cauldron… but I'm a vampire hunter, I've killed about ninety so far -" **

Remus chuckled here, vampires were a lot harder than that to kill.

**A third young wizard, whose pimples were visible even by the dim, silvery light of the veela, now cut in, "I'm about to become the youngest ever Minister of Magic, I am." **

**Harry snorted with laughter. He recognized the pimply wizard: His name was Stan Shunpike, and he was in fact a conductor on the triple-decker Knight Bus. **

The room was laughing loudly before they settled again.

**He turned to tell Ron this, but Ron's face had gone oddly slack, and next second Ron was yelling, "Did I tell you I've invented a broomstick that'll reach Jupiter?" **

And this laughter was worse.

**"Honestly!" said Hermione, and she and Harry grabbed Ron firmly by the arms, wheeled him around, and marched him away. By the time the sounds of the veela and their admirers had faded ****completely, they were in the very heart of the wood. They seemed to be alone now; everything was much quieter. **

"Alone, not a good thing." Neville shivered.

**Harry looked around. "I reckon we can just wait here, you know. We'll hear anyone coming a mile off." **

**The words were hardly out of his mouth, when Ludo Bagman emerged from behind a tree right ahead of them. **

"What the hell is he doing out there?" Dean mumbled, voicing what quiet a few were thinking.

**Even by the feeble light of the two wands, Harry could see that a great change had come over Bagman. He no longer looked buoyant and rosy-faced; there was no more spring in his step. He looked very white and strained. **

"Goblins will do that to a person." Hermione mentioned under her breath.

**"Who's that?" he said, blinking down at them, trying to make out their faces. "What are you doing in here, all alone?" **

**They looked at one another, surprised. **

**"Well - there's a sort of riot going on," said Ron. **

**Bagman stared at him. **

**"What?" **

**"At the campsite… some people have got hold of a family of Muggles…"**

**Bagman swore loudly.**

"He what!" Molly boomed, standing up in outrage and ready to rant when suddenly there was duck tape over her mouth and Gabriel was chuckling merrily.

**"Damn them!" he said, looking quite distracted, and without another word, he Disapparated with a small pop! **

**"Not exactly on top of things, Mr. Bagman, is he?" said Hermione, frowning. **

**"He was a great Beater, though," said Ron, **

"So was Gelbert Grindlewald I believe." Dumbledore said serenely and a few shivered.

**leading the way off the path into a small clearing, and sitting down on a patch of dry grass at the foot of a tree. "The Wimbourne Wasps won the league three times in a row while he was with them." **

"Doesn't mean it was because of him." Katie pointed out.

**He took his small figure of Krum out of his pocket, set it down on the ground, and watched it walk around. Like the real Krum, the model was slightly duck-footed and round-shouldered, much less impressive on his splayed feet than on his broomstick. **

Harry hummed innocently.

**Harry was listening for noise from the campsite. Everything seemed much quieter; perhaps the riot was over. **

**"I hope the others are okay," said Hermione after a while. **

**"They'll be fine," said Ron. **

**"Imagine if your dad catches Lucius Malfoy," said Harry, sitting down next to Ron and watching the small figure of Krum slouching over the fallen leaves. "He's always said he'd like to get something on him." **

**"That'd wipe the smirk off old Draco's face, all right," said Ron. **

"Not really." Draco breath, he though no-one heard him but he could feel eyes on him and looked up to see the Slytherin werewolf looking at him with a look that clearly said 'it'll get better, trust me' and for some strange reason, he did.

**"Those poor Muggles, though," said Hermione nervously. "What if they can't get them down?" **

**"They will," said Ron reassuringly. "They'll find a way."**

**"Mad, though, to do something like that when the whole Ministry of Magic's out here tonight!" said Hermione. "I mean, how do they expect to get away with it? Do you think they've been drinking, or are they just -"**

"They'd been drinking most likely." Arthur confirmed gently.

**But she broke off abruptly and looked over her shoulder. Harry and Ron looked quickly around too. It sounded as though someone was staggering toward their clearing. They waited, listening to the sounds of the uneven steps behind the dark trees. But the footsteps came to a sudden halt.**

**"Hello?" called Harry. **

People looked at him as if he were an idiot but soon turned away at the twins glares, but Ron's was on him.

**There was silence. Harry got to his feet and peered around the tree. It was too dark to see very far, but he could sense somebody standing just beyond the range of his vision. **

"Lad you better do something with those sense's even if you're not an Auror." Moody gruffed and Padfoot barked his agreement cheerfully.

**"Who's there?" he said.**

**And then, without warning, the silence was rent by a voice unlike any they had heard in the wood; and it uttered, not a panicked shout, but what sounded like a spell.**

**"MORSMORDRE!" **

The hall froze in a second, like the spell was taking effect now.

**And something vast, green, and glittering erupted from the patch of darkness Harry's eyes had been struggling to penetrate; it flew up over the treetops and into the sky. **

**"What the -?" gasped Ron as he sprang to his feet again, staring up at the thing that had appeared. **

People looked forward in morbid curiosity.

**For a split second, Harry thought it was another leprechaun formation. Then he realized that it was a colossal skull, comprised of what looked like emerald stars, with a serpent protruding from its mouth like a tongue. As they watched, it rose higher and higher, blazing in a haze of greenish smoke, etched against the black sky like a new constellation. **

"If it weren't for what it means it would be pretty incredible." Seamus pointed out in a kind of horrified way.

**Suddenly, the wood all around them erupted with screams. Harry didn't understand why, but the only possible cause was the sudden appearance of the skull, which had now risen high enough to illuminate the entire wood like some grisly neon sign. He scanned the darkness for the person who had conjured the skull, but he couldn't see anyone. **

"You should have just moved." Molly almost snapped.

"Well I didn't know what it was." Harry snapped back harsher and then shrunk back in shame but Molly didn't notice, she was to gob smacked.

Gabriel wished she'd left the tape.

**"Who's there?" he called again.**

**"Harry, come on, move!" Hermione had seized the collar of his jacket and was tugging him backward.**

**"What's the matter?" Harry said, startled to see her face so white and terrified.**

**"It's the Dark Mark, Harry!" Hermione moaned, pulling him as hard as she could. "You-Know-Who's sign!" **

**"Voldemort's - **

Everyone shuddered.

"For the love of- It's a name, a made up one at that." Harry sighed, throwing his hands up.

**"Harry, come on!"**

**Harry turned - Ron was hurriedly scooping up his miniature Krum - the three of them started across the clearing - but before they had taken a few hurried steps, a series of popping noises announced the arrival of twenty wizards, appearing from thin air, surrounding them. **

"This can't be good." Charity (Muggle Studies Prof remember) fretted.

**Harry whirled around, and in an instant, he registered one fact: Each of these wizards had his wand out, and every wand was pointing right at himself, Ron, and Hermione.**

**Without pausing to think, he yelled, "DUCK!"**

**He seized the other two and pulled them down onto the ground. **

"That's a lad." Two guesses me old muckers.

**"STUPEFY!" roared twenty voices - there was a blinding series of flashes and Harry felt the hair on his head ripple as though a powerful wind had swept the clearing. Raising his head a fraction of an inch he saw jets of fiery red light flying over them from the wizards' wands, crossing one another, bouncing off tree trunks, rebounding into the darkness—**

**"Stop!" yelled a voice he recognized. "STOP! That's my son!" **

"Thank goodness." Molly sighed and few resisted from telling her this had already happened.

**Harry's hair stopped blowing about. He raised his head a little higher. The wizard in front of him had lowered his wand. He rolled over and saw Mr. Weasley striding toward them, looking terrified.**

**"Ron - Harry" - his voice sounded shaky - "Hermione - are you all right?"**

**"Out of the way, Arthur," said a cold, curt voice. **

"Arse."

"Ronald! How dare you!"

"Shut up!"

"Now, now Gabriel, that's not very nice."

"Fuck off Mikal." They looked up to see someone stood behind Gabriel with sparkling blue eyes flecked with gold and golden hair, his features were stronger than Gabriel's and much less cherubic but there was a definite resemblance.

"I've never heard the name Mikal before." Hermione mumbled getting over her shock.

"It's another name for Michael." The blond grinned brightly at her and she flushed mildly.

"Auror Novak, why are you here?" Amelia asked.

"Well I heard something was happening and thought I'd stop by and see my darling adopted sister." People looked between them in surprise. Adopted?

**It was Mr. Crouch. He and the other Ministry wizards were closing in on them. Harry got to his feet to face them. Mr. Crouch's face was taut with rage.**

**"Which of you did it?" he snapped, his sharp eyes darting between them. "Which of you conjured the Dark Mark?" **

"They're children." Amelia said before she could stop herself though she wasn't loud about it.

**"We didn't do that!" said Harry, gesturing up at the skull.**

**"We didn't do anything!" said Ron, who was rubbing his elbow and looking indignantly at his father. "What did you want to attack us for?"**

**"Do not lie, sir!" shouted Mr. Crouch. His wand was still pointing directly at Ron, and his eyes were popping - he looked slightly mad. **

"He was never a hundred percent." Mikal commented in a smooth voice that sent pleasurable shivers down everyone's spines.

"How old is he?" Harry mused under his breath.

"I'm twenty gorgeous." Harry blushed as the other smirked at him.

**"You have been discovered at the scene of the crime!"**

**"Barty," whispered a witch in a long woolen dressing gown, "they're kids, Barty, they'd never have been able to."**

**"Where did the Mark come from, you three?" said Mr. Weasley quickly.**

**"Over there," said Hermione shakily, pointing at the place where they had heard the voice. "There was someone behind the trees… they shouted words – an incantation -" **

"That's not going to help you." Tracy Davis mumbled.

**"Oh, stood over there, did they?" said Mr. Crouch, turning his popping eyes on Hermione now, disbelief etched all over his face. "Said an incantation, did they? You seem very well informed about how that Mark is summoned, missy -" **

"Well they did hear it you mad idiot." Lavender said and Percy was blushing from where he was sat at the head table.

**But none of the Ministry wizards apart from Mr. Crouch seemed to think it remotely likely that Harry, Ron, or Hermione had conjured the skull; on the contrary, at Hermione's words, they had all raised their wands again and were pointing in the direction she had indicated, squinting through the dark trees. **

"Why do people think squinting helps?" Someone asked.

**"We're too late," said the witch in the woolen dressing gown, shaking her head. "They'll have Disapparated."**

**"I don't think so," said a wizard with a scrubby brown beard. It was Amos Diggory, Cedric's father. "Our Stunners went right through those trees… There's a good chance we got them…" **

A few people grimaced, no one wanted to say anything against Cedric's dad but they real didn't like the man so far.

**"Amos, be careful!" said a few of the wizards warningly as Mr. Diggory squared his shoulders, raised his wand, marched across the clearing, and disappeared into the darkness. Hermione watched him vanish with her hands over her mouth. A few seconds later, they heard Mr. Diggory shout.**

**"Yes! We got them! There's someone here! Unconscious! It's - but - blimey.."**

**"You've got someone?" shouted Mr. Crouch, sounding highly disbelieving. "Who? Who is it?" **

"That's a little suspicious, logically it was to be expected." Lisa Turpin said from next to Tracy.

**They heard snapping twigs, the rustling of leaves, and then crunching footsteps as Mr. Diggory reemerged from behind the trees. He was carrying a tiny, limp figure in his arms. Harry recognized the tea towel at once. It was Winky. **

Please watch as at once, everyones back straightens.

**Mr. Crouch did not move or speak as Mr. Diggory deposited his elf on the ground at his feet. The other Ministry wizards were all staring at Mr. Crouch. For a few seconds Crouch remained transfixed, his eyes blazing in his white face as he stared down at Winky. Then he appeared to come to life again.**

**"This - cannot - be," he said jerkily. "No -" **

"It can and is." Susan said faux cheerily.

**He moved quickly around Mr. Diggory and strode off toward the place where he had found Winky.**

**"No point, Mr. Crouch," Mr. Diggory called after him. "There's no one else there." **

"You can see." Harry breathed.

**But Mr. Crouch did not seem prepared to take his word for it. They could hear him moving around and the rustling of leaves as he pushed the bushes aside, searching.**

**"Bit embarrassing," Mr. Diggory said grimly, looking down at Winky's unconscious form. "Barty Crouch's house-elf… I mean to say…" **

**"Come off it, Amos," said Mr. Weasley quietly, "you don't seriously think it was the elf? The Dark Mark's a wizard's sign. It requires a wand." **

"Exactly." Molly agreed with her husband.

**"Yeah," said Mr. Diggory, "and she had a wand."**

**"What?" said Mr. Weasley.**

**"Here, look." Mr. Diggory held up a wand and showed it to Mr. Weasley. "Had it in her hand. So that's clause three of the Code of Wand Use broken, for a start. No non-human creature is permitted to carry or use a wand."**

"Pathetic." The two Novak's said in time.

**Just then there was another pop, and Ludo Bagman Apparated right next to Mr. Weasley. Looking breathless and disorientated, he spun on the spot, goggling upward at the emerald-green skull.**

**"The Dark Mark!" he panted, almost trampling Winky as he turned inquiringly to his colleagues. "Who did it? Did you get them? Barty! What's going on?" **

"Muppet!" The twins almost growled but held it back, just.

**Mr. Crouch had returned empty-handed. His face was still ghostly white, and his hands and his toothbrush mustache were both twitching.**

**"Where have you been, Barty?" said Bagman. "Why weren't you at the match? Your elf was saving you a seat too - gulping gargoyles!" Bagman had just noticed Winky lying at his feet. "What happened to her?" **

"Unobservant idiot." Moody growled.

**"I have been busy, Ludo," said Mr. Crouch, still talking in the same jerky fashion, barely moving his lips. "And my elf has been stunned." **

**"Stunned? By you lot, you mean? But why -?"**

**Comprehension dawned suddenly on Bagman's round, shiny face; he looked up at the skull, down at Winky, and then at Mr. Crouch.**

**"No!" he said. "Winky? Conjure the Dark Mark? She wouldn't know how! She'd need a wand, for a start!" **

"Dear lord." Hermione came out with and Gabriel and Mikal started laughing their heads off.

**"And she had one," said Mr. Diggory. "I found her holding one, Ludo. If it's all right with you, Mr. Crouch, I think we should hear what she's got to say for herself."**

**Crouch gave no sign that he had heard Mr. Diggory, but Mr. Diggory seemed to take his silence for assent. He raised his own wand, pointed it at Winky, and said, "Ennervate!"**

**Winky stirred feebly. Her great brown eyes opened and she blinked several times in a bemused sort of way. Watched by the silent wizards, she raised herself shakily into a sitting position. **

"And nobody thought to help." Luna frowned.

**She caught sight of Mr. Diggory's feet, and slowly, tremulously, raised her eyes to stare up into his face; then, more slowly still, she looked up into the sky. Harry could see the floating skull ****reflected twice in her enormous, glassy eyes. She gave a gasp, looked wildly around the crowded clearing, and burst into terrified sobs. **

"Poor blighter." Hagrid's gruff voice sounded.

**"Elf!" said Mr. Diggory sternly. "Do you know who I am? I'm a member of the Department for the Regulation and Control of Magical Creatures!" **

"Git."

"George."

"That was Fred."

**Winky began to rock backward and forward on the ground, her breath coming in sharp bursts.**

**Harry was reminded forcibly of Dobby in his moments of terrified disobedience. **

"Don't look at me like that Hermione."

**"As you see, elf, **

"She has a name." Remus sighed dejectedly and Padfoot barked his agreement strongly.

**the Dark Mark was conjured here a short while ago," said Mr. Diggory. "And you were discovered moments later, right beneath it! An explanation, if you please!"**

**"I - I - I is not doing it, sir!" Winky gasped. "I is not knowing how, sir!" **

"Listen to the poor women." Ashton glared. "And let her calm down."

**"You were found with a wand in your hand!" barked Mr. Diggory, brandishing it in front of her. And as the wand caught the green light that was filling the clearing from the skull above, Harry recognized it.**

**"Hey - that's mine!" he said.**

"I know, I had a blond moment." Harry huffed and most people laughed only people like Lavender took

**Everyone in the clearing looked at him.**

**"Excuse me?" said Mr. Diggory, incredulously.**

**"That's my wand!" said Harry. "I dropped it!"**

**"You dropped it?" repeated Mr. Diggory in disbelief. "Is this a confession? You threw it aside after you conjured the Mark?" **

"He really is-"

"A little thick-"

"Isn't he." Ah, twin speak.

**"Amos, think who you're talking to!" said Mr. Weasley, very angrily. "Is Harry Potter likely to conjure the Dark Mark?" **

**"Er - of course not," mumbled Mr. Diggory. "Sorry… carried away…" **

"Just a little Amos." Amelia sighed to herself.

**"I didn't drop it there, anyway," said Harry, jerking his thumb toward the trees beneath the skull. "I missed it right after we got into the wood."**

**"So," said Mr. Diggory, his eyes hardening as he turned to look at Winky again, cowering at his feet. "You found this wand, eh, elf? And you picked it up and thought you'd have some fun with it, did you?" **

"Good Gods." Ashton let her head fall into her hands. "What is wrong with him?"

"Not sure hun, I think it's a case of being to proud for his own good but I'm not sure." Gabriel said to her and they smiled brightly at one another before turning towards the book.

**"I is not doing magic with it, sir!" squealed Winky, tears streaming down the sides of her squashed and bulbous nose. "I is… I is… I is just picking it up, sir! I is not making the Dark Mark, sir, I is not knowing how!" **

_People wonder why Lucifer chose to fall._

_He should have listened though._

_Is it his fault for having his own mind? We aren't emotionless drones like are father seems to think. _

_I know, I want him back, I want him safe, happy and with us like it use to be. _

_So do I but I can't bring him back. _

_And neither can I. _

_Yes you can, I know what you two really were even if no-one else did. _

_How?_

_Spirt of truth remember._

_I'll, I'll try. _

_I know. _

**"It wasn't her!" said Hermione. She looked very nervous, speaking up in front of all these Ministry wizards, yet determined all the same. "Winky's got a squeaky little voice, and the voice we heard doing the incantation was much deeper!" **

"Smart thinking Miss Granger." Professor Sinistra commented.

**She looked around at Harry and Ron, appealing for their support. "It didn't sound anything like Winky, did it?" **

**"No," said Harry, shaking his head. "It definitely didn't sound like an elf."**

**"Yeah, it was a human voice," said Ron.**

**"Well, we'll soon see," growled Mr. Diggory, looking unimpressed.**

"Arse." That came from a few people though some couldn't believe they cared about a house elf.

** "There's a simple way of discovering the last spell a wand performed, elf, did you know that?"**

**Winky trembled and shook her head frantically, her ears flapping, as Mr. Diggory raised his own wand again and placed it tip to tip with Harry's.**

**"Prior Incantato!" roared Mr. Diggory. **

"Over dramatic much." Lavender huffed and people looked at her as if saying 'like you can talk'.

**Harry heard Hermione gasp, horrified, as a gigantic serpent-tongued skull erupted from the point where the two wands met, but it was a mere shadow of the green skull high above them; it looked as though it were made of thick gray smoke: the ghost of a spell. **

Harry gave a sardonic grin that many people questioned.

**"Deletrius!" Mr. Diggory shouted, and the smoky skull vanished in a wisp of smoke.**

**"So," said Mr. Diggory with a kind of savage triumph, looking down upon Winky, who was still shaking convulsively. **

"Just because the wand was used it doesn't prove who used it." Hannah said outraged.

**"I is not doing it!" she squealed, her eyes rolling in terror. "I is not, I is not, I is not knowing how! I is a good elf, I isn't using wands, I isn't knowing how!" **

**"You've been caught red-handed, elf!" Mr. Diggory roared. "Caught with the guilty wand in your hand!" **

"He has a point."

"Don't Ernie, just don't." Justin shook his head.

**"Amos," said Mr. Weasley loudly, "think about it… precious few wizards know how to do that spell… Where would she have learned it?"**

**"Perhaps Amos is suggesting," said Mr. Crouch, cold anger in every syllable, "that I routinely teach my servants to conjure the Dark Mark?"**

**There was a deeply unpleasant silence. Amos Diggory looked horrified. "Mr. Crouch… not… not at all." **

"Does he have a brain?" Colin asked.

"Yes he just rarely uses it." Arthur chuckled and a few other people did at his comment.

**"You have now come very close to accusing the two people in this clearing who are least likely to conjure that Mark!" barked Mr. Crouch. "Harry Potter – and myself. I suppose you are familiar with the boy's story, Amos?" **

"Yet you accused him yourself." Theo smirked to himself.

**"Of course - everyone knows -" muttered Mr. Diggory, looking highly discomforted.**

**"And I trust you remember the many proofs I have given, over a long career, that I despise and detest the Dark Arts and those who practice them?" Mr. Crouch shouted, his eyes bulging again.**

**"Mr. Crouch, I - I never suggested you had anything to do with it!" Amos Diggory muttered again, now reddening behind his scrubby brown beard. **

**"If you accuse my elf, you accuse me, Diggory!" shouted Mr. Crouch. "Where else would she have learned to conjure it?" **

"Good point."

**"She - she might've picked it up anywhere -"**

**"Precisely, Amos," said Mr. Weasley. "She might have picked it up anywhere… Winky?" he said kindly, **

"Finally." Alicia cheered.

**turning to the elf, but she flinched as though he too was shouting at her. "Where exactly did you find Harry's wand?"**

**Winky was twisting the hem of her tea towel so violently that it was fraying beneath her fingers.**

**"I - I is finding it… finding it there, sir…" she whispered, "there… in the trees, sir." **

"See, wasn't that easy." Angelina mocked.

**"You see, Amos?" said Mr. Weasley. "Whoever conjured the Mark could have Disapparated right after they'd done it, leaving Harry's wand behind. A clever thing to do, not using their own wand, which could have betrayed them. And Winky here had the misfortune to come across the wand moments later and pick it up." **

"Ah, logic, welcome back." Lee grinned.

**"But then, she'd have been only a few feet away from the real culprit!" said Mr. Diggory impatiently. "Elf? Did you see anyone?" **

**Winky began to tremble worse than ever. Her giant eyes flickered from Mr. Diggory, to Ludo Bagman, and onto Mr. Crouch. Then she gulped and said, "I is seeing no one, sir… no one…" **

"Well, she was telling the truth." Ron snorted and the rest of the golden trio gave him a look that clearly said shut up.

**"Amos," said Mr. Crouch curtly, "I am fully aware that, in the ordinary course of events, you would want to take Winky into your department for questioning. I ask you, however, to allow me to deal with her."**

**Mr. Diggory looked as though he didn't think much of this suggestion at all, but it was clear to Harry that Mr. Crouch was such an important member of the Ministry that he did not dare refuse him.**

**"You may rest assured that she will be punished," Mr. Crouch added coldly.**

"What, that's not fair." Katie said extremely miffed,

**"M-m-master…" Winky stammered, looking up at Mr. Crouch, her eyes brimming with tears. "M-m-master, p-p-please…"**

**Mr. Crouch stared back, his face somehow sharpened, each line upon it more deeply etched. There was no pity in his gaze.**

**"Winky has behaved tonight in a manner I would not have believed possible," he said slowly. "I told her to remain in the tent. I told her to stay there while I went to sort out the trouble. And I find that she disobeyed me. This means clothes." **

"I would expect no less." Umbitch said smugly, her toad like grin getting wider.

**"No!" shrieked Winky, prostrating herself at Mr. Crouch's feet. "No, master! Not clothes, not clothes!"**

**Harry knew that the only way to turn a house-elf free was to present it with proper garments. It was pitiful to see the way Winky clutched at her tea towel as she sobbed over Mr. Crouch's feet. **

**"But she was frightened!" Hermione burst out angrily, glaring at Mr. Crouch. "Your elf's scared of heights, and those wizards in masks were levitating people! You can't blame her for wanting to get out of their way!" **

The griffins being what they were cheered for the bushy-haired fifth year.

**Mr. Crouch took a step backward, freeing himself from contact with the elf, whom he was surveying as though she were something filthy and rotten that was contaminating his over-shined shoes. **

"Wonder where he ended up." Mikal muttered to his sister.

"Fields of Punishment. What? Thanatos is an old friend." Gabriel smirked.

"You and Azrael could be twins."

**"I have no use for a house-elf who disobeys me," he said coldly, looking over at Hermione. "I have no use for a servant who forgets what is due to her master, and to her master's reputation."**

**Winky was crying so hard that her sobs echoed around the clearing. There was a very nasty silence, which was ended by Mr. Weasley, who said quietly, "Well, I think I'll take my lot back to the tent, if nobody's got any objections. Amos, that wand's told us all it can - if Harry could have it back, please -"**

**Mr. Diggory handed Harry his wand and Harry pocketed it. **

Harry re-made his mental note to get a holster the next chance.

**"Come on, you three," Mr. Weasley said quietly. But Hermione didn't seem to want to move; her eyes were still upon the sobbing elf. "Hermione!" Mr. Weasley said, more urgently. She turned and followed Harry and Ron out of the clearing and off through the trees. **

**"What's going to happen to Winky?" said Hermione, the moment they had left the clearing.**

**"I don't know," said Mr. Weasley.**

**"The way they were treating her!" said Hermione furiously. "Mr. Diggory, calling her 'elf' all the time… and Mr. Crouch! He knows she didn't do it and he's still going to sack her! He didn't care how frightened she'd been, or how upset she was - it was like she wasn't even human!" **

"Bad phrasing." Neville muttered.

**"Well, she's not," said Ron.**

**Hermione rounded on him.**

**"That doesn't mean she hasn't got feelings, Ron. It's disgusting the way -" **

"That wouldn't be what he meant and that was far from the time." McGonagall chastised make the bushy haired girl look away.

**"Hermione, I agree with you," said Mr. Weasley quickly, beckoning her on, "but now is not the time to discuss elf rights. I want to get back to the tent as fast as we can. What happened to the others?"**

**"We lost them in the dark," said Ron. "Dad, why was everyone so uptight about that skull thing?" **

"Skull thing, why didn't they know this?" Amelia asked in complete shock.

**"I'll explain everything back at the tent," said Mr. Weasley tensely.**

**But when they reached the edge of the wood, their progress was impeded. A large crowd of frightened-looking witches and wizards was congregated there, and when they saw Mr. Weasley coming toward them, many of them surged forward.**

**"What's going on in there?"**

**"Who conjured it?"**

**"Arthur - it's not - Him?" **

The young ones were completely confused.

**"Of course it's not Him," said Mr. Weasley impatiently. "We don't know who it was; it looks like they Disapparated. Now excuse me, please, I want to get to bed."**

**He led Harry, Ron, and Hermione through the crowd and back into the campsite.**

**All was quiet now; there was no sign of the masked wizards, though several ruined tents were still smoking.**

**Charlie's head was poking out of the boys' tent. **

Harry chuckled as he remembered the image, he hadn't full appreciated it at the time, to wound up.

**"Dad, what's going on?" he called through the dark. "Fred, George, and Ginny got back okay, but the others -"**

**"I've got them here," said Mr. Weasley, bending down and entering the tent. Harry, Ron, and Hermione entered after him.**

**Bill was sitting at the small kitchen table, holding a bedsheet to his arm, which was bleeding profusely. **

"What?" Molly snapped harshly.

"What, I was fine by morning, Charlie helped patch me up, didn't even have a scar." Bill shrugged and gave Charlie's shoulder a gentle squeeze.

**Charlie had a large rip in his shirt, and Percy was sporting a bloody nose. Fred, George, and Ginny looked unhurt, though shaken.**

**"Did you get them, Dad?" said Bill sharply. "The person who conjured the Mark?"**

**"No," said Mr. Weasley. "We found Barry Crouch's elf holding Harry's wand, but we're none the wiser about who actually conured the Mark." **

**"What?" said Bill, Charlie, and Percy together. "Harry's wand?" said Fred. **

**"Mr. Crouch's elf" said Percy, sounding thunderstruck. **

"Of course, that was the important part." Ginny sneered looking severely unattractive.

**With some assistance from Harry, Ron, and Hermione, Mr. Weasley explained what had happened in the woods. When they had finished their story, Percy swelled indignantly. **

**"Well, Mr. Crouch is quite right to get rid of an elf like that!" he said. "Running away when he'd expressly told her not to… embarrassing him in front of the whole Ministry… how would that have looked, if she'd been brought up in front of the Department for the Regulation and Control" **

Gabriel grinned and grabbed a pillow from somewhere and pitched it full force at Percy who actually fell backwards from the chair, the Slytherin cheering two points.

**"She didn't do anything - she was just in the wrong place at the wrong time!" Hermione snapped at Percy, who looked very taken aback. Hermione had always got on fairly well with Percy - better, indeed, than any of the others. **

**"Hermione, a wizard in Mr. Crouch's position can't afford a house-elf who's going to run amok with a wand!" said Percy pompously, recovering himself. **

**"She didn't run amok!" shouted Hermione. "She just picked it up off the ground!" **

Guess the Lions were happy.

**"Look, can someone just explain what that skull thing was?" said Ron impatiently. "It wasn't hurting anyone… Why's it such a big deal?" **

**"I told you, it's You-Know-Who's symbol, Ron," said Hermione, before anyone else could answer. "I read about it in The Rise and Fall of the Dark Arts." **

"Of course she did." Pansy sneered.

**"And it hasn't been seen for thirteen years," said Mr. Weasley quietly. "Of course people panicked… it was almost like seeing You-Know-Who back again." **

**"I don't get it," said Ron, frowning. "I mean… it's still only a shape in the sky…" **

**"Ron, You-Know-Who and his followers sent the Dark Mark into the air whenever they killed," said Mr. Weasley. "The terror it inspired… you have no idea, you're too young. Just picture coming home and finding the Dark Mark hovering over your house, and knowing what you're about to find inside…" Mr. Weasley winced. "Everyone's worst fear… the very worst." **

_We've seen worse_

_We've caused worse_

_So true_

**There was silence for a moment. Then Bill, removing the sheet from his arm to check on his cut, said, "Well, it didn't help us tonight, whoever conjured it. It scared the Death Eaters away the moment they saw it. They all Disapparated before we'd got near enough to unmask any of them. We caught the Robertses before they hit the ground, though. They're having their memories modified right now." **

**"Death Eaters?" said Harry. "What are Death Eaters?" **

"Wait, so genuinely, no one thought to tell you this?" Neville said looking at him in bemusement and the emerald eyed boy shook his head.

**"It's what You-Know-Who's supporters called themselves," said Bill. "I think we saw what's left of them tonight - the ones who managed to keep themselves out of Azkaban, anyway."**

**"We can't prove it was them, Bill," said Mr. Weasley. "Though it probably was," he added hopelessly. **

**"Yeah, I bet it was!" said Ron suddenly. "Dad, we met Draco Malfoy in the woods, and he as good as told us his dad was one of those nutters in masks! And we all know the Malfoys were right in with You-Know-Who!" **

"Oh for crying out loud it's Voldemort." Gabriel snapped. "You can say the devils name but you can't say his, why!?" The werewolf looked genuinely offended but Harry agreed with her.

**"But what were Voldemort's supporters -" Harry began. Everybody flinched – like most of the wizarding world, the Weasleys always avoided saying Voldemort's name. "Sorry," said Harry quickly. "What were You-Know-Who's supporters up to, levitating Muggles? I mean, what was the point?" **

**"The point?" said Mr. Weasley with a hollow laugh. "Harry, that's their idea of fun. Half the Muggle killings back when You-Know-Who was in power were done for fun. I suppose they had a few drinks tonight and couldn't resist reminding us all that lots of them are still at large. A nice little reunion for them," he finished disgustedly. **

"Why does everyone always forget you didn't grow up in the wizarding world?" George asked and Harry shrugged.

"Because I'm the Bloody Boy-who-wouldn't-die they think I have to know these thing." He grumbled dejectedly.

**"But if they were the Death Eaters, why did they Disapparate when they saw the Dark Mark?" said Ron. "They'd have been pleased to see it, wouldn't they?" **

**"Use your brains, Ron," said Bill. "If they really were Death Eaters, they worked very hard to keep out of Azkaban when You-Know-Who lost power, and told all sorts of lies about him forcing them to kill and torture people. I bet they'd be even more frightened than the rest of us to see him come back. They denied they'd ever been involved with him when he lost his powers, and went back to their daily lives… I don't reckon he'd be over-pleased with them, do you?" **

"Trust me, old tommy boy wasn't." Harry chuckled but it was hollow and tired.

**"So… whoever conjured the Dark Mark…" said Hermione slowly, "were they doing it to show support for the Death Eaters, or to scare them away?" **

**"Your guess is as good as ours, Hermione," said Mr. Weasley. "But I'll tell you this… it was only the Death Eaters who ever knew how to conjure it. I'd be very surprised if the person who did it hadn't been a Death Eater once, even if they're not now… Listen, it's very late, and if your mother hears what's happened she'll be worried sick. We'll get a few more hours sleep and then try and get an early Portkey out of here." **

**Harry got back into his bunk with his head buzzing. He knew he ought to feel exhausted: It was nearly three in the morning, but he felt wide-awake – wide awake, and worried.**

"Adrenaline does that to you." Amelia said in a voice that told everyone she knew exactly what that felt like.

**Three days ago - it felt like much longer, but it had only been three days - he had awoken with his scar burning. And tonight, for the first time in thirteen years, Lord Voldemort's mark had appeared in the sky. What did these things mean? He thought of the letter he had written to Sirius before leaving Privet Drive. Would Sirius have gotten it yet? When would he reply? Harry lay looking up at the canvas, but no flying fantasies came to him now to ease him to sleep, and it was a long time after Charlie's snores filled the tent that Harry finally dozed off.**

Charlie looked unashamed and a few people were starting to become disturbed by Harry's thoughts, wait until they got to later chapters.


	9. Mayhem at The Ministry

**CHAPTER TEN Mayhem at the Ministry **Hermione had happily gotten her hands on the book.

**Mr. Weasley woke them after only a few hours sleep. He used magic to pack up the tents, and they left the campsite as quickly as possible, passing Mr. Roberts at the door of his cottage. Mr. Roberts had a strange, dazed look about him, and he waved them off with a vague "Merry Christmas."**

Little Dennis Creevey snorted before giggling.

**"He'll be all right," said Mr. Weasley quietly as they marched off onto the moor. "Sometimes, when a person's memory's modified, it makes him a bit disorientated for a while... and that was a big thing they had to make him forget."**

"Really I thought it was small." Lee tried to joke but it was still to tense in the air for it be pulled off.

**They heard urgent voices as they approached the spot where the Portkeys lay, and when they reached it, they found a great number of witches and wizards gathered around Basil, the keeper of the Portkeys, all clamoring to get away from the campsite as quickly as possible. **

"Can you blame them?" Tracy muttered to Daphne Greengrass who agreed completely.

**Mr. Weasley had a hurried discussion with Basil; they joined the queue, and were able to take an old rubber tire back to Stoatshead Hill before the sun had really risen. They walked back through Ottery St. Catchpole and up the damp lane toward the Burrow in the dawn light, talking very little because they were so exhausted, and thinking longingly of their breakfast. As they rounded the corner and the Burrow came into view, a cry echoed along the lane. **

"Oh this'll be good." Blaise said sardonically and Draco chuckled under his breath.

**"Oh thank goodness, thank goodness!"**

**Mrs. Weasley, who had evidently been waiting for them in the front yard, came running toward them, still wearing her bedroom slippers, her face pale and strained, a rolled-up copy of the Daily Prophet clutched in her hand. **

"Oh I loved that report, got everyone worked up." Amelia said with false cheer much to everyones amusement.

**"Arthur - I've been so worried - so worried-"**

**She flung her arms around Mr. Weasley's neck, and the Daily Prophet fell out of her limp hand onto the ground. Looking down, Harry saw the headline: SCENES OF TERROR AT THE QUIDDITCH WORLD CUP, complete with a twinkling black-and-white photograph of the Dark Mark over the treetops. **

"Well that was never going to cause panic." Bill muttered and his brother chuckled from next to him.

**"You're all right," Mrs. Weasley muttered distractedly, releasing Mr. Weasley and staring around at them all with red eyes, "you're alive... Oh boys..." And to everybody's surprise, she seized Fred and George and pulled them both into such a tight hug that their heads banged together. **

In a synchronised move they rubbed their heads at that point, at the mild phantom pain.

**"Ouch! Mum - you're strangling us -"**

**"I shouted at you before you left!" Mrs. Weasley said, starting to sob. "It's all I've been thinking about! What if You-Know-Who had got you, and the last thing I ever said to you was that you didn't get enough OW.L.s? Oh Fred... George..." **

"You never know what your going to end up regretting." Neville mumbled and Luna gently gripped his hand.

**"Come on, now, Molly, we're all perfectly okay," said Mr. Weasley soothingly, prising her off the twins and leading her back toward the house. "Bill," he added in an undertone, "pick up that paper, I want to see what it says..."**

**When they were all crammed into the tiny kitchen, and Hermione had made Mrs. Weasley a cup of very strong tea, into which Mr. Weasley insisted on pouring a shot of Ogdens Old Firewhiskey, **

That drew a few much needed chuckles.

**Bill handed his father the newspaper. Mr. Weasley scanned the front page while Percy looked over his shoulder.**

**"I knew it," said Mr. Weasley heavily. "Ministry blunders... culprits not apprehended... lax security... Dark wizards running unchecked... national disgrace... Who wrote this? Ah... of course... Rita Skeeter." **

That hissing, yeah, it's Harry speaking in Parceltongue without realising and you really don't want me to translate, I'd have to change the story rating.

**"That woman's got it in for the Ministry of Magic!" said Percy furiously. "Last week she was saying we're wasting our time quibbling about cauldron thickness, when we should be stamping out vampires! **

Mikal and Gabriel growled darkly from where they were sat, Mikal's eyes flashing red and his fangs visible between his lips.

The Slytherins unsurprisingly retreated.

**As if it wasn't specifically stated in paragraph twelve of the Guidelines for the Treatment of Non-Wizard Part-Humans —"**

**"Do us a favor, Perce," said Bill, yawning, "and shut up." **

Those cheers could burst your ear drums.

**"I'm mentioned," said Mr. Weasley, his eyes widening behind his glasses as he reached the bottom of the Daily Prophet article.**

**"Where?" spluttered Mrs. Weasley, choking on her tea and whiskey. **

Can you blame the few who snorted as Molly blushed.

**"If I'd seen that, I'd have known you were alive!" **

**"Not by name," said Mr. Weasley. "Listen to this: 'If the terrified wizards and witches who waited breathlessly for news at the edge of the wood expected reassurance from the Ministry of Magic, they were sadly disappointed. A Ministry official emerged some time after the appearance of the Dark Mark alleging that nobody had been hurt, but refusing to give any more information. Whether this statement will be enough to quash the rumors that several bodies were removed from the woods an hour later, remains to be seen.' **

"Evil cow started the rumour."

"Ashton."

"Don't look at me like that Hannah."

**Oh really," said Mr. Weasley in exasperation, handing the paper to Percy. "Nobody was hurt. What was I supposed to say? Rumors that several bodies were removed from the woods... well, there certainly will be rumors now she's printed that." **

"She lives to cause trouble." Amelia grumbled. Umbridge was disappointed to discover her jaw was cemented shut and the Novaks were smirking.

**He heaved a deep sigh. "Molly, I'm going to have to go into the office; this is going to take some smoothing over."**

**"I'll come with you, Father," said Percy importantly. **

"Does he know that a Father and Dad are two very different things?" Susan suddenly came out with and the answer was a resounding no.

**"Mr. Crouch will need all hands on deck. And I can give him my cauldron report in person."**

**He bustled out of the kitchen. Mrs. Weasley looked most upset. "Arthur, you're supposed to be on holiday! This hasn't got anything to do with your office; surely they can handle this without you?"**

**"I've got to go, Molly," said Mr. Weasley. "I've made things worse. I'll just change into my robes and I'll be off..."**

"You still shouldn't have gone in." Molly sighed.

"Unfortunately we need everyone we could get." Amelia told her, feeling tired just remembering.

**"Mrs. Weasley," said Harry suddenly, unable to contain himself, "Hedwig hasn't arrived with a letter for me, has she?"**

**"Hedwig, dear?" said Mrs. Weasley distractedly. "No... no, there hasn't been any post at all."**

**Ron and Hermione looked curiously at Harry.****With a meaningful look at both of them he said, "All right if I go and dump my stuff in your room, Ron?" **

_That red head is bad news as is his little sister. _

_Calm down that's why you did this, to save your charge and you will. _

_But before all of this goes to hell._

_It's you, you know this is the best idea. _

_I know, I also knew fighting with you was for the best and where is Lucifer now?_

_I'll get him, I promise. _

**"Yeah... think I will too," said Ron at once. "Hermione?"**  
**"Yes," she said quickly, and the three of them marched out of the kitchen and up the stairs.**

**"What's up, Harry?" said Ron, the moment they had closed the door of the attic room behind them. **

"Check for spies first." Remus said dejectedly and the three went brilliant reds.

**"There's something I haven't told you," Harry said. "On Saturday morning, I woke up with my scar hurting again."**

**Ron's and Hermione's reactions were almost exactly as Harry had imagined them back in his bedroom on Privet Drive. **

I'm not going to count that many raised eyebrows.

**Hermione gasped and started making suggestions at once, mentioning a number of reference books, and everybody from Albus Dumbledore to Madam Pomfrey, the Hogwarts nurse. Ron simply looked dumbstruck. **

"He is." The twins smirked and Harry felt the laughter bubble up and out.

**"But - he wasn't there, was he? You-Know-Who? I mean - last time your scar kept hurting, he was at Hogwarts, wasn't he?" **

**"I'm sure he wasn't on Privet Drive," said Harry. "But I was dreaming about him... him and Peter - you know, Wormtail. I can't remember all of it now, but they were plotting to kill... someone."**

**He had teetered for a moment on the verge of saying "me," but couldn't bring himself to make Hermione look any more horrified than she already did. **

Gabriel chuckled and held her hands up in a surrender.

"What I find it funny, I'm weird I know."

**"It was only a dream," said Ron bracingly. "Just a nightmare."**

**"Yeah, but was it, though?" said Harry, turning to look out of the window at the brightening sky. "It's weird, isn't it...? My scar hurts, and three days later the Death Eaters are on the march, and Voldemort's sign's up in the sky again."**

**"Don't - say - his - name!" Ron hissed through gritted teeth. **

"I will and you won't stop me, neither will old tommy boy." Harry said resolutely and ignored the heated glare he got.

**"And remember what Professor Trelawney said?" Harry went on, ignoring Ron. "At the end of last year?"**

**Professor Trelawney was their Divination teacher at Hogwarts. Hermione's terrified look vanished as she let out a derisive snort. **

"Hey!" Mikal and Gabriel snapped.

"She is a seer I can sense it a mile away and while it may be subjective it isn't something to be discounted unless you're narrow-minded." The blond Auror told her and she shrunk in on herself.

"Sorry Professor Trelawney."

"Quiet alright dear."

"Auror Novak." Amelia shook her head, what was she going to do with him.

**"Oh Harry, you aren't going to pay attention to anything that old fraud says?" **

**"You weren't there," said Harry. "You didn't hear her. This time was different. I told you, she went into a trance - a real one. And she said the Dark Lord would rise again... greater and more terrible than ever before... and he'd manage it because his servant was going to go back to him... and that night Wormtail escaped." **

"Who on earth is Wromtail." Umbitch sneered.

"Peter Pettigrew." Harry smiled, a dark look shining in his eyes that made her back off.

**There was a silence in which Ron fidgeted absentmindedly with a hole in his Chudley Cannons bedspread.**

**"Why were you asking if Hedwig had come, Harry?" Hermione asked. "Are you expecting a letter?" **

"No he just thought she'd pick one up randomly." Lee grinned and a few people teetered with laughter.

**"I told Sirius about my scar," said Harry, shrugging. "I'm waiting for his answer."**

**"Good thinking!" said Ron, his expression clearing. "I bet Sirius'll know what to do!"**

**"I hoped he'd get back to me quickly," said Harry. **

Padfoot whined and put his head in Harry's lap, looking up at him mournfully.

"I know, don't worry." Harry said running his hand though the Grim's fur.

**"But we don't know where Sirius is... he could be in Africa or somewhere, couldn't he?" said Hermione reasonably. "Hedwig's not going to manage that journey in a few days."**

**"Yeah, I know," said Harry, but there was a leaden feeling in his stomach as he looked out of the window at the Hedwig-free sky. **

"What, I'm a very angst person, I can't help it, you try living my life." Harry huffed and fell into the twins again.

**"Come and have a game of Quidditch in the orchard, Harry" said Ron. "Come on - three on three, Bill and Charlie and Fred and George will play... You can try out the Wronski Feint... "**

**"Ron," said Hermione, in an I-don't-think-you're-being-very-sensitive sort of voice, **

I'd say about fifty snorts, though that's a guess.

**"Harry doesn't want to play Quidditch right now... He's worried, and he's tired... We all need to go to bed..."**

**"Yeah, I want to play Quidditch," said Harry suddenly. "Hang on, I'll get my Firebolt." Hermione left the room, muttering something that sounded very much like "Boys." **

"Hey!" All the Quidditch loving girls snapped and Hermione flushed once again.

**Neither Mr. Weasley nor Percy was at home much over the following week. Both left the house each morning before the rest of the family got up, and returned well after dinner every night. **

People winced as if the statement caused then physical pain.

**"It's been an absolute uproar," Percy told them importantly the Sunday evening before they were due to return to Hogwarts. "I've been putting out fires all week. People keep sending Howlers, and of course, if you don't open a Howler straight away, it explodes. Scorch marks all over my desk and my best quill reduced to cinders." **

"That sounds like fun." Hannah grimaced.

**"Why are they all sending Howlers?" asked Ginny, who was mending her copy of One Thousand Magical Herbs and Fungi with Spellotape on the rug in front of the living room fire. **

Ginny, Ron and Molly blushed furiously at the mention of their lack of money.

**"Complaining about security at the World Cup," said Percy. "They want compensation for their ruined property. Mundungus Fletcher's put in a claim for a twelve-bedroomed tent with en-suite Jacuzzi, but I've got his number. I know for a fact he was sleeping under a cloak propped on sticks."**

**Mrs. Weasley glanced at the grandfather clock in the corner. Harry liked this clock. It was completely useless if you wanted to know the time, but otherwise very informative. **

"What the.." There were a couple of those.

**It had nine golden hands, and each of them was engraved with one of the Weasley family's names. There were no numerals around the face, but descriptions of where each family member might be. "Home," "school," and "work" were there, but there was also "traveling," "lost," "hospital," "prison," and, in the position where the number twelve would be on a normal clock, "mortal peril."**

"And I pray your names never end up on that one." Arthur said under his breath.

**Eight of the hands were currently pointing to the "home" position, but Mr. Weasley's, which was the longest, was still pointing to "work." Mrs. Weasley sighed.**

**"Your father hasn't had to go into the office on weekends since the days of You- Know-Who," she said. **

Quiet a few people winced.

**"They're working him far too hard. His dinner's going to be ruined if he doesn't come home soon." **

**"Well, Father feels he's got to make up for his mistake at the match, doesn't he?" said Percy. "If truth be told, he was a tad unwise to make a public statement without clearing it with his Head of Department first -" **

"Git." The twins hissed.

"Does he remind you or Zachariah?" Gabriel posed to he adopted brother who snorted.

"Immensely."

**"Don't you dare blame your father for what that wretched Skeeter woman wrote!" said Mrs. Weasley, flaring up at once.**

**"If Dad hadn't said anything, old Rita would just have said it was disgraceful that nobody from the Ministry had commented," said Bill, who was playing chess with Ron. "Rita Skeeter never makes anyone look good. **

"Unless they pay her." Michael threw in and Anthony laughed from his place in the others lap where he seemed to be permanently now.

**Remember, she interviewed all the Gringotts' Charm Breakers once, and called me 'a long-haired pillock'?"**

**"Well, it is a bit long, dear," said Mrs. Weasley gently. "If you'd just let me -" "No, Mum." **

"I think it is nice." Fluer commented and the curse breaker gave a charming, caring smile.

**Rain lashed against the living room window. Hermione was immersed in The Standard Book of Spells, Grade 4, copies of which Mrs. Weasley had bought for her, Harry, and Ron in Diagon Alley. Charlie was darning a fireproof balaclava. Harry was polishing his Firebolt, the broomstick servicing kit Hermione had given him for his thirteenth birthday open at his feet. Fred and George were sitting in a far corner, quills out, talking in whispers, their heads bent over a piece of parchment. **

"What are they up to now." Of course Gred and Feorge looked at Angelina with a hurt look that no one believed for a moment.

**"What are you two up to?" said Mrs. Weasley sharply, her eyes on the twins. "Homework," said Fred vaguely.**  
**"Don't be ridiculous, you're still on holiday," said Mrs. Weasley.**  
**"Yeah, we've left it a bit late," said George. **

Plenty of people were snickering under their breath as the reading continued.

**"You're not by any chance writing out a new order form, are you?" said Mrs. Weasley shrewdly. "You wouldn't be thinking of restarting Weasleys' Wizard Wheezes, by any chance?"**

**"Now, Mum," said Fred, looking up at her, a pained look on his face. "If the Hogwarts Express crashed tomorrow, and George and I died, how would you feel to know that the last thing we ever heard from you was an unfounded accusation?"**

The laughs roared through the Griffins and a few others were happily joining in.

**Everyone laughed, even Mrs. Weasley.**  
**"Oh your father's coming!" she said suddenly, looking up at the clock again.**

**Mr. Weasley's hand had suddenly spun from "work" to "traveling"; a second later it had shuddered to a halt on "home" with the others, and they heard him calling from the kitchen. "Coming, Arthur!" called Mrs. Weasley, hurrying out of the room. A few moments later, Mr. Weasley came into the warm living room carrying his dinner on a tray. He looked completely exhausted. **

"I was." He chuckled dryly, which was severely odd on him.

**"Well, the fat's really in the fire now," he told Mrs. Weasley as he sat down in an armchair near the hearth and toyed unenthusiastically with his somewhat shriveled cauliflower. "Rita Skeeter's been ferreting around all week, looking for more Ministry mess-ups to report. And now she's found out about poor old Bertha going missing, so that'll be the headline in the Prophet tomorrow. **

"Rita should be shot." Harry muttered.

"That's a lack of imagination love." Mikal grinned at him.

"So is hung drawn and quartered by our standers." The Slytherin of the two mentioned.

"You two are very morbid." Ashton murmured looking at them mildly disturbed.

"We know."

**I told Bagman he should have sent someone to look for her ages ago."**

**"Mr. Crouch has been saying it for weeks and weeks," said Percy swiftly.**

**"Crouch is very lucky Rita hasn't found out about Winky," said Mr. Weasley irritably. **

I think someone's eardrum has just been blown with that cheer.

**"There'd be a week's worth of headlines in his house-elf being caught holding the wand that conjured the Dark Mark."**

**"I thought we were all agreed that that elf, while irresponsible, did not conjure the Mark?" said Percy hotly.**

**"If you ask me, Mr. Crouch is very lucky no one at the Daily Prophet knows how mean he is to elves!" said Hermione angrily. **

"Shut up!" Who that was we don't know but so many agreed.

**"Now look here, Hermione!" said Percy. "A high-ranking Ministry official like Mr. Crouch deserves unswerving obedience from his servants -"**

**"His slave, you mean!" said Hermione, her voice rising passionately, "because he didn't pay Winky, did he?"**

**"I think you'd all better go upstairs and check that you've packed properly!" said Mrs. Weasley, breaking up the argument. "Come on now, all of you..." **

"Thank you." The fifth year boys said weakly.

**Harry repacked his broomstick servicing kit, put his Firebolt over his shoulder, and went back upstairs with Ron. The rain sounded even louder at the top of the house, accompanied by loud whistlings and moans from the wind, not to mention sporadic howls from the ghoul who lived in the attic. Pigwidgeon began twittering and zooming around his cage when they entered. The sight of the half-packed trunks seemed to have sent him into a frenzy of excitement.**

"And that's saying something for him."

**"Bung him some Owl Treats," said Ron, throwing a packet across to Harry. "It might shut him up."**

**Harry poked a few Owl Treats through the bars of Pigwidgeon's cage, then turned to his trunk. Hedwig's cage stood next to it, still empty.**

**"It's been over a week," Harry said, looking at Hedwig's deserted perch. "Ron, you don't reckon Sirius has been caught, do you?"**

**"Nah, it would've been in the Daily Prophet," said Ron. "The Ministry would want to show they'd caught someone, wouldn't they?" **

"Listen to him-

you worry to much-

We know you can't

Help it

Just try."

**"Yeah, I suppose..."**

**"Look, here's the stuff Mum got for you in Diagon Alley. And she's got some gold out of your vault for you... and she's washed all your socks."**

"Wait, how did she get into your vault, only you or your guardian should be able to get in, even with your trust vault." Draco said before he could stop himself.

"Trust vault?" The confusion in those emerald eyes genuinely confused him.

"Yeah, your the air to the ancient and noble house of Potter, the Third richest in Britain and fifth in Europe." The platinum blond explained. "I'll explain more later." All the while Amelia was contemplating this with an increasingly uneasy feeling in her stomach.

**He heaved a pile of parcels onto Harry's camp bed and dropped the money bag and a load of socks next to it. Harry started unwrapping the shopping. Apart from The Standard Book of Spells, Grade 4, by Miranda Goshawk, he had a handful of new quills, a dozen rolls of parchment, and refills for his potion-making kit - he had been running low on spine of lionfish and essence of belladonna. He was just piling underwear into his cauldron when Ron made a loud noise of disgust behind him. **

They perked up like little meerkats. Simples, eek (A/N: Sorry, I had to.)

**"What is that supposed to be?"**

**He was holding up something that looked to Harry like a long, maroon velvet dress. It had a moldy-looking lace frill at the collar and matching lace cuffs. **

Those who had seen it were in hysterics.

**There was a knock on the door, and Mrs. Weasley entered, carrying an armful of freshly laundered Hogwarts robes.**

**"Here you are," she said, sorting them into two piles. "Now, mind you pack them properly so they don't crease."**

**"Mum, you've given me Ginny's new dress," said Ron, handing it out to her.**

Ginny hissed like a very unattractive cat, looked a bit like one to.

**"Of course I haven't," said Mrs. Weasley. "That's for you. Dress robes." **

**"What?" said Ron, looking horror-struck.**

**"Dress robes!" repeated Mrs. Weasley. "It says on your school list that you're supposed to have dress robes this year... robes for formal occasions."**

**"You've got to be kidding," said Ron in disbelief. "I'm not wearing that, no way."**

**"Everyone wears them, Ron!" said Mrs. Weasley crossly. "They're all like that! Your father's got some for smart parties!"**

**"I'll go starkers before I put that on," said Ron stubbornly.**

"So would most people." Terry snickered, he really couldn't stop himself.

**"Don't be so silly," said Mrs. Weasley. "You've got to have dress robes, they're on your list! I got some for Harry too... show him, Harry..."**

"Only if you went to that bloody thing." Gabriel grumbled.

**In some trepidation, Harry opened the last parcel on his camp bed. It wasn't as bad as he had expected, however; his dress robes didn't have any lace on them at all - in fact, they were more or less the same as his school ones, except that they were bottle green instead of black.**

**"I thought they'd bring out the color of your eyes, dear," said Mrs. Weasley fondly.**

People snorted and laughed happily and Harry groaned.

"I hate that bloody ball."

**"Well, they're okay!" said Ron angrily, looking at Harry's robes. "Why couldn't I have some like that?"**

**"Because... well, I had to get yours secondhand, and there wasn't a lot of choice!" said Mrs. Weasley, flushing.**

**Harry looked away. He would willingly have split all the money in his Gringotts vault with the Weasleys, but he knew they would never take it.**

_No Arthur would never take it. _

_What do you know_

_You'll find out soon_

**"I'm never wearing them," Ron was saying stubbornly. "Never."**

**"Fine," snapped Mrs. Weasley. "Go naked. And, Harry, make sure you get a picture of him. Goodness knows I could do with a laugh."**

**She left the room, slamming the door behind her. There was a funny spluttering noise from behind them. Pigwidgeon was choking on an overlarge Owl Treat.**

**"Why is everything I own rubbish?" said Ron furiously, striding across the room to unstick Pigwidgeon's beak.**

"At least you've got your family." Neville muttered.

"Sorry Harry goes ahead and steals mine." Everyone froze at Ron's words.

"Ron." The word was so quiet people barely heard it and Harry already looked heartbroken.

"Well it's true! Look at you with them!" He gestured to the twins. "They obviously think of you as their brother! Even Charlie and Bill would rather spend time with you! You can't have your own family because you got them killed so you have to take mine!" The red-head looked immensely satisfied as Harry ran from the hall and with everyones eyes on him no-one saw the two blonds from the Slytherin table leave, well except the Novaks, but that was them.


End file.
